


Survivor's Guilt

by waterbird13



Series: Empathic Responses [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: (in a subtle sort of way), Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Ending, Character Death, Controlling Behavior, Dark, Gaslighting, Infinity Stones, M/M, Mind Control, Not A Happy Ending, Omega Tony Stark, Oppression, Sad, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel, Tony alone, bad a/b/o dynamics, took major character death tag off because he comes back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-08-05 08:53:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16364798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterbird13/pseuds/waterbird13
Summary: What if, despite being able to speak to Gamora, Tony hadn't won the ability to use the stones? What if the soul stone was still looking for a sacrifice?Now a longer fic. Warning: Despite this being part of the Empathic Responses universe, it's not a Tony/Bucky shippy fic, even if they're still the key pairing. This fic is a sad alternate ending and while the ending isn’t awful, everything is rather more bleak than the original.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all, welcome back!
> 
> This is my darker alternate ending. It takes place sometime around chapter twenty-eight in the actual fic, Empathic Responses. Basically, Tony has just reunited with the rest of the survivors, and, despite being able to speak to Gamora, the soul stone still wants its sacrifice.
> 
> Please note that this is not a happy ending at all and the major character death tag refers to way more than just the people who died in the snap.
> 
> I don't know where this came from, but one day I was driving home and spent like an hour in the car working this out in my brain, so if I have to suffer, so can you. 
> 
> This ending is very complicated for me. On the one hand, I love parts of it. On the other, it kind of works against large parts of Empathic Responses. I've debated making this longer, making it still have the message I wanted the whole series to have. I have no idea where it would go, but it's been on my mind.
> 
> Okay, that's all. So. Enjoy? I guess?

Gamora looks at him sadly. Tony can guess what that means.

“I’m sorry, Stark,” she sighs, running a hand through the not-water where they both sit. “You can’t…the soul stone requires a sacrifice, and you haven’t made it.”

“I understand,” Tony says heavily, his brain beginning to whir.

 

When he’s reunited with the remaining people who will fight for the restoration of the world, Thor pulls together a smile and claps his shoulder. “Well met, Stark,” he says. “To Nidavellir?”

“Not yet,” Tony says heavily. “Nebula. Where did your sister and Thanos find the soul stone?”

The port around her bionic eye whirs a bit as her eye widens. “Vormir,” she says after a moment, staring at Tony like she can see through him.

Tony nods, tries not to show anything on his face, tries to project anything like what he’s really feeling. If he can fool the mad Titan, he can fool this bunch, who, except for Rhodey, never really knew him anyways.

“Then that’s where we’re headed.”

Everyone learns to give Tony a wide berth when he communes with the soul stone. The weird, mystical elements seem to scare them off.

He sits cross-legged, a pose he doesn’t think he’s adopted since that time Pepper got him to try meditation for that one week, in the nebulous, swirling landscape of nowhere. Gamora sits across from him.

“What happens when I do this?” Tony asks.  _ When _ , not  _ if _ , because Tony can’t allow any doubt to creep up. “Do you…move on or something?”

She shrugs. “I’m not an expert in magic, Stark. I know as much as you.”

“Will it work?” He asks.

She cocks her head. “Do you trust him?”

Well, that’s a loaded question. Gamora probably doesn’t know how loaded.

“I trust him to do this,” he decides.

 

Nebula watches him a lot. Tony knows that she knows what this trip means, how it will end. She doesn’t breathe a word to anyone. He wishes he could thank her without giving himself away, but realizes after a few days that he can do something.

Nebula can’t commune with the soul stone like Tony can—even if he can’t use it properly, he seems to have won it, fair and square, when he slit the throat of the mad Titan, which means it responds to him and him alone for now. So Tony passes on messages between the sisters, and awkwardly pretends not to watch them cry. 

It’s not enough, but it’s all he has right now. The way it makes Nebula look at him makes him actively uncomfortable, an odd mixture of grateful and grieving.

 

Tony shares Rhodey’s bunk at night, a tight squeeze for the two of them, but neither really cares. Tony almost feels like an asshole, considering Carol  _ probably _ wants to be here instead. Tony wonders what Rhodey’s telling her. My emotional wreck of a best friend needs some comfort after losing his boyfriend and his kid? The omega is vulnerable and over-emotional? Tony comes first?

Tony tries not to think about it, just grateful for these moments with one of the last people Tony has left.

The bunks aren’t meant for two grown men, even if they’re both small. The bunks are utilitarian and simple, and Tony couldn’t give less of a fuck.

The world’s ended, and Tony knows what has to come next. He’s going to hold onto Rhodey while he still can.

They land on Vormir long after the planet’s weak sun has set, just as Tony planned. “We’ll go tomorrow,” he says. “It’d be dangerous at night.”

Everyone nods and shifts off to bed. Rhodey extends a hand to Tony, but Tony shakes his head, making like he’s going to spend some time communing with the stone before he goes. Rhodey lets him go, and Tony watches him leave, wistful, wishing he could go with Rhodey, one last time.

But if he waits for the moment that feels right to let go, he’ll never leave.

Nebula nods at him once as she leaves, sharp and all-seeing. Tony nods back.

Once the ship is quiet, Tony makes his way over to Steve and wakes him up, hand across his mouth. Steve’s eyes are wide and demanding answers, so Tony just shakes his head and gestures Steve outside. He tries to project calm, ease, a sense of camaraderie. Anything to make Steve come with him.

“We’re going now,” Tony says.

“Now? What about the others?” Steve asks.

“Just us. It’ll be safer just us. Trust me,” Tony says, projecting all the trustworthiness he can, on his face, on his scent. Dangerous words to say to Steve, Tony supposes, because when has Steve ever trusted him before?

Steve hesitates, but nods. “Alright, Tony,” he says. “Let‘s go.”

So they begin their trekk, Tony guiding the way. Along the route Gamora’s shown him, that he knows inside and out by now, he starts to give Steve a plan, everything he should know. First, they need to go to Nidavellir, get a new gauntlet. Then, very carefully, every stone needs to be set in the new gauntlet before it can be used.

“After that, it’s pretty easy,” Tony says. “You know, snap. If you can find the right words.”

“What words?” Steve asks. “Like magic words?”

“What you want to ask the stones for,” Tony corrects. “Like, your commend.”

“What about  _ fix this mess _ ?” Steve asks.

“Not specific enough.”

“ _ Bring back everyone who died?” _

“Zombies.”

“Undo Thanos’ snap?”

“Think about, say, the guy who disappeared off an airplane at twenty thousand feet. He comes back, but no plane’s there anymore. Besides, there are people who died because of the snap, but not from it. Like the cars that crashed or the baby whose mother disappeared, and no one found the baby for three days.”

They go back and forth for a while, and Steve seems only mildly frustrated when Tony shoots down all his iterations of the command. He’s more intrigued, like he’s trying to best the system, just as Tony planned.

They’re at the top of the cliff, now.

“One last question,” Tony says. “Do you still love me?”

Steve seems entirely blind-sided. “What?”

“Do you. Still. Love me?” Tony asks, slow and pausing. “Care about me?”

Tony can see Steve’s throat bob as he swallows. “I…yes,” he admits. “I…I know I’ve hurt you, but I…yes. It’s not like it was, but—“

“I understand,” Tony says, cutting him off. “Good. That’s good.”

“Tony? I don’t know what’s going on. You and Bucky…”

“This has nothing to do with my feelings,” Tony interrupts. “This is a price that has to be paid.”

“What price? Tony, I don’t understand.”

“He has been lying to you, Captain,” a hissed voice says, and Steve jumps immediately into a combat stance.

“Schmidt,” he snarls.

Tony stares, a little surprised himself. Gamora hadn’t described the appearance of the guardian, just what he’d ask of them.

“Don’t kill him, Steve,” Tony says tiredly. “We need him alive.”

The Red Skull chuckles. “Your omega pet shields me, hm? Ask him why he lied.”

“I didn’t lie,” Tony says as calmly as he can. “Just haven’t finished explaining yet.”

“Maybe you should do that, right now,” Steve says, voice tight and getting angry.

“The soul stone demands a sacrifice,” The Red Skull says. “Only with the sacrifice of a loved one can one hold its power.”

Steve turns to Tony slowly. “Tony?”

“I don’t love you, Steve,” Tony says quietly. “But you love me.”

Steve’s already shaking his head. “No. No. Tony, I won’t.”

“The world has to be put to rights,” Tony continues. “We need the soul stone to do that.”

“Tony—“

“I might not trust you completely, but I trust you to do this,” Tony says. “You have everything you need to fix the world.”

“Why me?” Steve asks desperately. “Why? I’m not…I’m not a good enough person…Rhodes, he’s a better man than me, and—“

“You’re goddamn right he is,” Tony says harshly. “But you’re good enough, and right now, good enough is good enough for me. The Soul Stone requires a sacrifice. It’s the punishment for using it. Rhodey, he doesn’t deserve that, to have to live with that. But you…”

Steve’s eyes are huge and sad, tears welling up in a way Tony has never seen before, that Steve has never allowed him to see before. He wants to comfort him. He wants to tell Steve they can figure this out.

It’s too late for that, too late by a long shot. And Tony knows now that this is karmic, that this is justice, that Steve is reaping what he sows.

Rhodey could never do it. If he was alive, Bucky couldn’t either. 

But Steve, Steve’s loved Tony to the point of harm for years now. Tony knows he can guilt him into this.

“I’ve been a pawn my whole life,” Tony continues, harsh and fast. “A tool in other’s belts. Well, here I am, one last time. Your pawn. Use me, and that’ll save the world.”

Steve shakes his head rapidly. “You’re not…Tony, you’re not. Not a pawn.”

“No?” Tony says sardonically. “You projected your idea of omega onto me so hard it nearly killed us a couple times over, Steve.”

“You’re always the one who…who saves us,” Steve stumbles. “You always…you’re better, stronger than all of us.”

How nice to hear, now, when Tony knows he has minutes left to live. 

“Steve,” Tony says firmly, refusing to cry, refusing to break. “Tell me the plan, again.”

So Steve tells him, careful and slow, tears now flowing, which they both ignore.

“And the command?”

Steve hesitates, gets hung up, having forgotten their sticking point on the walk up.

Tony sighs. “Try this, okay?  _ Put the universe as it’s intended to be _ .”

“I…you sure that will work?”

“No,” Tony says. “I don’t know anything beyond that this has to happen, Steve. But it’s the best I got, the last I’ve got to give.”

“I…okay, Tony.”

“You follow that plan, you fix the universe, or I swear to god, I will come back just to haunt your ass,” Tony threatens.

“I…” Steve looks lost, overwhelmed.

“Now do it, Steve,” Tony says. He takes a step towards the edge. 

Steve follows him as if unconsciously, stumbling a bit and frowning. “You’re…you’re condemning me to live with this, forever.”

“Tough shit,” Tony says sharply. “Since I’m the one dying here, I don’t have much sympathy.” 

He does, somewhere inside, deep inside. He does care that Steve will forever blame himself for Tony’s death. That others might blame him, too.

But if he was going to put this on anyone, he has to be honest with himself; it was always going to be Steve.

Tony takes another step back, and Steve follows, still half-tripping, still crying, still with his attention rapt on Tony.

“Come here, Steve,” Tony says. He looks and he sees the Red Skull watching with absolute, horrifying fascination, then turns away again. 

Steve stumbles closer and closer until Tony’s on the edge. “I’m going to do most of the work,” Tony encourages, letting one foot half slip off the edge. “I just need a little bit from you.” As always, Tony thinks. The way it always is, until the bitter end, and it’s comforting, in its own way.

Steve keeps stumbling until he’s right there, until his hand is in Tony’s shirt, gripping tight, although whether to shove him or refuse to let him fall, Tony doesn’t know. Tony kicks one foot entirely off. “I love you,” Steve says, voice thick with his tears.

Tony turns his head. He didn’t want to hear that, not now, not right at the end. “Guess I have to hope so,” he says emptily.

“I’m so sorry,” Steve says.

Tony manages a half smile, bitter and mourning and so so painful. “You never knew what to actually be sorry for,” he says, and kicks his second foot off the edge, dangling there for a moment, entirely in Steve’s grasp.

Steve lets go. 

Tony barely feels it, just watches him get farther away as the air rushes around him.

Whether this works or not, it’s out of his hands now. He’s done everything he can.

He closes his eyes. 


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the fall, Tony's trapped in the Soul Stone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, all!
> 
> I know, you thought I was dead, huh? I'm here! I've been working on this for ages, literally since I wrote the first chapter. Please prepare for a long author's note, because this is basically the introductory note for this being a fic.
> 
> This is an 8 chapter fic, and it's now entirely complete. I'll get you three chapters a week until it's done, so that should be pretty quick.
> 
> This is a dark alternate ending. Things get much darker. While the ending has hope, it's not a happy ending like Empathic Responses. Things are much more up in the air, and bleak, and Tony is not happy in this version of the story. I will of course provide chapter warnings for each chapter as we go, and update the tags; we'll really need them for this fic.
> 
> In general, just know that some of the stuff that bugged you about Empathic Responses is even worse here. Not the Thanos/rape stuff, but the Earth stuff. It's not pleasant.
> 
> Another warning: Although Tony/Bucky is still the main pairing and Tony loves Bucky, they're not really in this fic as a couple much. Bucky's dead at this point and time. As we get closer, I will explain the obstacles in their path as author's notes. If you're here just for the romance, this one might not be for you.
> 
> For this chapter, Tony's trapped in the soul stone after his death. Since it's a manifestation of Steve's soul, Tony is suddenly confronted what he'd be like in Steve's ideal world. He's a manifestation of Steve's deepest desires. This means Tony's not allowed to be fully himself and, whether Steve consciously realizes it or not, is being jerked around by Steve. Tony's also very dead, as he will remind us through the fic.
> 
> Well, thanks for your patience, all. This is an incredibly weird thing I've just written that wouldn't leave me the fuck alone until I wrote it. If it sounds like it's for you at all, then I hope you enjoy!

Tony wakes up in a universe bathed in red.

He knows where he is, from his visits with Gamora. But it looks different now. The arch is gone, replaced by what Tony realizes is the Avengers A, that first letter left on the side of the Tower that became their centerpiece.

Tony curls his lip at it. He’d gotten rid of  _ that _ painful reminder a long time ago.

“Gamora?”

There’s no response. Tony bites his lip, worrying the skin. “Gamora?”

Still nothing.

The horizon seems a long way off, here. The ground and sky are a deep, blood red, and it makes the world seem endless, reflecting on itself.

Tony hasn’t felt this small in a long, long time.

There’s a sound behind him. Tony turns quickly, ready to fight, but then he realizes his nanite casing is gone. Not that it matters much—it was mostly empty, at this point, anyways—but still. Tony’s defenseless.

It’s Steve, and Tony almost wants the nanites more now.

“Is it done?” Tony asks heavily, turning back to stare at that stupid A. It makes sense. Gamora—Tony is still worried that he can’t find her, still worried she might be gone forever now, lost—Gamora said Thanos came, once right after he did it, once after the snap.

She was also…Tony swallows. She was a little girl, then. Thanos’ subconscious made her a little girl.

He wonders what Steve’s changed about him.

“Tony,” Steve says, nearly breathless, staring at Tony. Tony imagines he must look a sight, recently pushed off a cliff and now here, bathed in the red glow of this strange hellscape.

“Is it done?” Tony repeats. For someone who now has all the time in the world, he still has little patience.

Steve sucks in a breath. “Think so.”

Tony nods. “Good. So…go figure this shit out,” he says, and he means it to sound harsh but he can’t quite entirely get there. Something is physically stopping him.

He refuses to look at Steve. Not when he’s pretty positive it’s Steve’s own desires controlling how Tony can talk.

It’s the soul stone. It’s a look into Steve’s  _ soul _ , his deepest desires.

It’s things Tony knew were there but never wanted to see.

Steve doesn’t move. Tony’s hand comes up and runs a hand across his face, then freezes.

His goatee is gone.

“Why in the hell…” He murmurs, but it doesn’t take him long to get it.

Goatees aren’t for omegas. Omegas are soft and delicate and facial hair is scratchy and prickly in a way omegas aren’t supposed to be. Tony’s facial hair had always been a  _ fuck you _ , forcing the world to accept a signature for him that they didn’t want to.

Tony wonders how often Steve imagined him without it. Wonders why he never asked for it gone.

Steve seems to notice where Tony’s hand stopped. “It…it looks good,” he says, hesitantly.

Tony wants to tell him to go fuck himself, to leave him alone and  _ fuck him _ , for doing this to him. He can’t get the words out, can’t force them past his lips.

After all, this is Steve’s soul. And that Tony, the one who yells and screams and doesn’t take Steve’s shit, doesn’t belong here.

So he turns away and hides his face. “So,” he says heavily. “It’s done. You got the stone. Seen the others yet?”

At least the magic doesn’t stop him from being a little vindictive.

Steve, predictably, flinches. “Not yet. I…I ended up here, after…after. I need to…”

“You need Thor to take you to Nidavellir,” Tony interrupts. “Get the gauntlet fixed. Put the stones inside. Then fix this mess.”

Steve nods and begins to turn away. “Tony, I’m…I’m sorry.”

Tony sighs. He can’t say what he wants to, anyways, so he just lets Steve disappear into the distance.

 

Once Steve’s gone, the iron grip the stone had on Tony seems to relax a bit. He works his jaw, tight from clenching with frustration.

Steve’s soul. Huh.

The large Avengers A seems even more glaring now, a flashpoint that this whole red world revolves around.

Tony had known Steve was messed up. That much has been obvious, a flashing neon sign for anyone who bothered to look when he was outside of the red, white and blue monstrosity. But Tony had fallen for the classic  _ omega’s gentle touch heals the broken alpha _ trope and he had been an  _ idiot _ .

Setting all that aside, that giant Avengers A had literally been all Steve had in his life. His team was gone, his maybe lover slipping away to dementia, his best friend dead, his world changed. His education had been shaky and whatever anyone deemed to provide. Not the greatest set up for a relationship between the two of them.

Tony had let it happen, let Steve pursue him, let him fall into the  _ inevitable _ . Let it all happen, let himself get sucked in. 

He at least had the sense to end it. Had the power to break it off spectacularly, even if it took a literal crushing blow to get to that point. 

Tony shakes his head and sits, the red liquid washing over him. Well. At least he knows it was true, when Steve said he loved him. For whatever fucked up version that was.

Tony touches his beardless face again. He’s had his facial hair since he was twenty-one, the fresh new face at Stark Industries desperate to prove he was worth his alpha father’s shoes. What had been an attempt to disguise his nature morphed into a  _ fuck you,  _ because omega nature shouldn’t be defined by being soft or gentle or anything like that. Tony can lift engines and have facial hair and design weapons and still be one hell of an omega.

Tony feels…sleepy. He can’t quite keep his eyes open, so he lets the gentle red waves drag him under.

 

He wakes up again to find Steve back. 

Tony pulls himself to a standing position and looks Steve over critically. His face is bruised and he’s holding himself stiffly, like bones are broken. Tony knows from experience it will only last an hour or so, but some part of him is—selfishly, he supposes, but fuck that—a little happy to see it.

“Rhodey find out?” he asks, imagining the scene.

Steve winces. “Nebula eventually told him the truth, but he tried very well to kill me first.”

_ Good _ , Tony doesn’t say, although whether he doesn’t say it because it’s unfair to say or because the soul magic  _ prevents _ him from saying it, he doesn’t know.

“He’s pissed at you too, you know,” Steve continues. “Says if I can find you, I’m supposed to tell you to go fuck yourself.”

“He’ll get over it,” Tony says, as flippantly as he can, pushing and testing the boundaries. A little sass is okay. He’s not Steve’s blow-up doll, even if he’s not quite fully Tony. Good to know.

The truth is, Rhodey  _ won’t _ just get over it and Tony doesn’t expect him to. Rhodey disobeyed commands, fought with the brass, risked his career—his  _ life _ —for Tony too many times now to believe that. He can only hope Carol will help keep him on an even keel.

If Tony died for his friends, if Tony made this sacrifice, then he’d be pissed if they followed him.

“We’re on our way to Nidavellir,” Steve continues. “Thor wants to write an ode to you, or something.”

Knowing Thor, it’d be some romanticized trash about an omega’s pure heart, generosity, and great love, paired with an alpha’s love and bravery and selflessness. Total, absolute bullshit. Tony doesn’t say it. He knows he won’t be able to get the words out.

“You here for anything in particular?” Tony asks.

Steve just studies him. “Just wanted…well, Rhodey wanted his message passed on. And it’s nice to know…you’re not _really_ dead, you know?”  
Assuaging his conscious, then. Tony figured as much. “Trust me,” Tony says. “I’m as dead as a doornail. But if this makes you feel better,” he says, lifting his arms, “then look your fill.”

Steve  _ does _ , which is the worst part. Tony bites his lip.

“I’ll be back,” Steve announces. “I have to…we need a strategy. But I’ll be back.” 

He turns, then, and vanishes. Tony blinks after him. For all he knows the bounds of space and time won’t allow him to attend this meeting, Tony can’t help but feel like the omega left on the homefront during the war.

 

He falls asleep again, without Steve. It’s like some sort of stasis, which Tony supposes is fair enough if he’s half imprint of Tony Stark and half Steve’s soul’s desires. No use in him existing without Steve, then.

He blinks into awareness as Steve re-enters the world. Tony wonders if Gamora experienced this, or if this is a unique manifestation of Steve’s desires. Tony exists  _ for _ Steve. He’s a mannequin, even if Steve mostly talks to him like a person.

“Have a seat,” Tony offers, leaning back on his hands, projecting the most casual look he can in this barren hellscape.

Steve hesitates, then listens, sitting cross-legged opposite Tony.

“How’s it going?”

Steve shrugs. “We’re getting close.”

“Congratulations.”

Steve shakes his head. “Still a jerk.”

Tony raises an eyebrow. “This is me at my church-going, Sunday best, Rogers.” It’s pretty true; sure, he apparently still has some minor sarcasm in him—did he have that before? He’s not sure—but he’s said and done much, much worse for far littler reason. “If you can’t handle  _ that _ , then why were we ever together in the first place?”

Steve opens his mouth, then closes it. “You know why.”

“Enlighten me.”

“You…we…Tony, we made sense.”

“In what way?” Tony presses.

Steve looks frustrated enough to tear his hair out. Or punch something, Tony supposes, which was honestly a much more typical response.

It was always punching bags. Maybe a wall, here and there, but it had never scared Tony. Never tripped any red flags.

Steve isn’t like that. He doesn’t hurt people, not like that. He’s not that type of alpha. 

He does get frustrated a lot, though, Tony thinks.

He shakes his thoughts loose. Steve  _ isn’t _ like that, although Tony knows full well there is easily more than one type of bad alpha.

“We were just…the protector and the caretaker, right? We  _ were _ the Avengers, we made that team function. It made sense. We were everything a mated pair was supposed to be.” The large A hovers ominously over them.

Tony shakes his head. “That’s not a reason, Steve.”

“What do you mean?”

“We don’t tolerate each other very well,” Tony says carefully, feeling out how much control he has over this explanation. “We don’t. We hate things about each other, big things, and none of this would have ever happened if we didn’t feel like…like it was destiny, or whatever. Like the alpha and the omega of the team, bound together.”

“We  _ are _ .”

“Were,” Tony corrects gently. “I’m dead, Steve. But no. We’re just people on the team who happened to be an alpha and an omega and let that run away with us.”

“We were good together.”

“Name a good moment,” Tony challenges.

“Spain,” Steve says immediately.

Tony nods, conceding the point. Spain  _ was  _ pretty special, a week just the two of them in a little hidden cottege. One of them few times Steve didn’t even complain about money. “Right.” He sighs. “It  _ was _ good, Steve, okay? All of it, except you were a shell of yourself and I thought I could fix you. And when you finally woke up from that, you thought finally having wants again and being an alpha meant your wants meant more than mine. I don’t know if you were always like that or if you stumbled into being like that—” _ an asshole _ , Tony thinks but can’t say— “but, bottom line, is it was over then.”

“Tony…”

“Yes?” Tony challenges.

“I just wanted…”

“For the world to bend to your whims,” Tony nods. He knows he’s skirting some sort of line, knows it in his bones, but can’t help but push. “I know, Steve.” He pauses for a second. “You know the difference between you and Bucky? He doesn’t do that.”

They both flinch. It’s deeply unfair and painful. Tony doesn’t regret it.

“Tony…”

Tony closes his eyes. He doesn’t have a ton of fight in him. He’s dead; what is there to fight for?

“Just go, Steve,” he says, tiredly.

After a hesitating moment, Steve does.

 

When Steve comes back next, Tony finds himself barely able to talk.

Steve’s testing the limits of this thing, although Tony doubts it’s conscious. Steve’s never been conscious of the power he wields over other people, after all.

Too deep in being the “little guy,” the poor guy, the one laughed at for being a defective alpha to realize that he’s the strongest guy in any room, that he has immense social power, this his voice could turn off an omega’s brain.

And now, whether he consciously thinks about it or not, Steve’s soul gets to see its ideal version of Tony in whatever way it manifests that day.

“We’re getting close,” Steve says. He’s nearly bruise-free. Tony’s silent.

Tony’s insides are on fire. Not like a heat, though, the slow, all-consuming burn that is. No, this is raging, this is scorched earth, this is taking what it can of him and using it as fuel because the fire needs to burn brighter, hotter.

“I’ll fix things soon. You’ll see,” Steve continues.

Tony makes like a good omega and keeps his mouth shut.

 

The next time, Tony has a little more control. It’s like Steve can’t make up his mind, wants the obedient little omega, then gets bored with it.

“Made it yet?”

“Yeah. Eitri is building us a new gauntlet,” Steve says. “It’ll be over soon.”

“Good,” Tony says, popping his shoulders. “Then maybe I can move on.”

Steve winces. “Don’t say that.”

“Why? You can’t want me to be stuck here forever…” Tony asks in disbelief.

Steve shrugs. “Would it be so bad? I’d visit.”

“Steve, I literally cease to exist when you’re not here. I am half figment of your imagination. Let me go,” Tony says softly.

“Don’t say that,” Steve repeats, shaking his head, and Tony finds that he  _ can’t _ say it. “Don’t say…I can’t let you  _ die.” _

_ You already did _ , Tony thinks but of course can’t say. Of course.

Steve sighs. “Tony, I’m…I’m sorry.”

Tony closes his eyes and tunes out Steve. He’s sick of hearing it. At least he can still do that much.

 

The next time Tony sees Steve, there’s a sharp pull from behind his navel. Considering Tony was apparently submerged under water, he comes up gasping and doesn’t get a moment’s respite, pulled along until the universe seems to invert itself. The last thing he sees is that stupid, stupid A.

It’s dark, for a half a second, and then so incredibly bright, red and purple, green and yellow and blue spinning around. And there, in the middle of it all, is Steve, eyes closed, mouthing  _ put the universe back how it was intended to be _ to himself, over and over and over.

The colors explode, and Tony’s vision whites out for a second, before the brightness of a star up close fades and Tony can see once more.

It’s the Compound, Tony realizes quickly. It’s some idyllic family scene, where they’re all sitting around. Maybe like it once was, except Bucky’s there too. Bucky sits on one side of Steve, Tony on the other. Tony looks at Steve…

Tony has to turn his head away.

The image doesn’t fade. On the contrary, it seems to grow stronger.

_ No! _ Tony wants to shout, but he can’t make the words come out.

Steve’s eyes are bright, hyper-focused on the scene. 

_ Are you sure _ ? The words echo around them, all-encompassing and from nowhere. Tony shivers, unable to shout, unable to protest.

Steve hesitates a second, then nods his head.

Tony tries screaming one last time, then everything goes white.

 

Tony comes to seated on the couch in the Compound. He looks around, trying to get his bearings.

It’s like everything is frozen in time, just for a second, just a moment. Sam and Scott and Clint sit on the opposite couch. Natasha has an armchair to herself and watches them with a smirk. Tony finds himself uncomfortably close to Steve with Bucky on the other side.

He sucks in a breath, pulls out his phone.

_ January 1st, 2018. _

“Rogers,” he says, loudly, just as the people around them begin to come to life. He feels bile rising up in his throat. “What the  _ fuck _ did you do?”


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony begins to deal with the aftermath. He has a plan. The world according to Steve Rogers is an ugly, ugly place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all!
> 
> So, confession. It's school break right now and that means I don't know my days of the week, which means that I thought yesterday was Saturday. So, since I'm trying to return to the Monday-Wednesday-Saturday posting schedule, consider yesterday a fun bonus chapter. This will all be posted rather quickly, considering it's only eight chapters.
> 
> Steve's now used the stones, which means they are in the world according to Steve Rogers. It is /very/ hard to be an omega in this world. It's not full-on dystopian sexual slavery or anything. It's more subtle. Steve lives in a very "back in my day" fantasy of a world that never existed, where alphas are good and kind and protectors of their omegas, who bow to their alphas because their alpha takes care of them and that's the natural order of things. (It's definitely deeply based on gender in our world).
> 
> Things are hard for Tony. A LOT of this fic is that uncomfortable, trapped, "shit-no-one-will-listen-to-me" feeling. If that's not for you, I totally understand.
> 
> Thanks for reading; if you like this fic, please drop me a line!

Steve looks around in alarm, his eyes moving fast and his muscles clenched tight. Tony knows; he can feel them bunching, pressed as close together as they are. “Where are…”

“January first,” Tony says dully. “2018. Congrats, Rogers. You managed to fuck this up.”

Tony closes his eyes. He died for nothing.  _ Nothing _ . And sure, being alive again is a decent consolation prize, but he rather the universe be fixed.

“What are you talking about?” Steve asks incredulously. “This is great. See? Everyone’s alive. We’re all…we’re all here. I think we did it.”

Tony takes a deep, steadying breath. Counts backwards from ten. “Steve,” he says, with as much fake patience as he can muster. “All you did was drop us back in time. Nothing’s been  _ fixed _ . The stones are still out there. Fuck, Thanos is  _ alive _ again, because of you. It’ll just happen, all over again, the same as last time.”

“What’re you lovebirds whispering about?” Clint calls, the tone obnoxious. The  _ tone _ isn’t really what sends Tony over the edge, though.

“Love…birds?” He asks carefully.

Clint rolls his eyes. “C’mon, Stark. I thought we were past all that ‘independent omega too good for romance’ bull already.”

Tony blinks. “Rogers,” he says, his tone as even as he can possibly make it, “I need to see you downstairs. Right now.”

Someone makes kissy noises as they go. Tony flushes and walks faster.

 

“You…You…” In an uncharacteristic moment, Tony has trouble forcing the words out. “You didn’t just reset time, you calamitous oaf. You somehow made us an  _ item _ .”

“We were…”

“In 2016!” Tony shouts. “You’ve…” Tony shakes his head. “You let the stones distract you. You used them, all right, but not to fix things. They  _ tricked _ you, you idiot. The soul stone saw your every desire and offered it to you, the mindstone literally warped their minds. The power stone is backing this, the space stone dumped us back here, the reality stone warped reality, and, well. The time stone. That one’s obvious.” Tony sighs, tugging a hand through his hair. “Congratulations. Now we have to start all over again.”

“Then we’ll win this time,” Steve says solemnly. “We’ll win together.”

Tony wants to hit him. He barely manages to refrain himself.

 

Tony doesn’t re-join the team. Instead, he spends the evening trying to figure out what exists in this timeline and what doesn’t. FRIDAY—who exists, thank god—is projecting seven conspiracy theory notjob-level web boards around him.

Nothing is the same as it was. Sure, Tony owns SI, but the board has him by the figurative balls at all times and seems to have more control than he does. None of Tony’s charities exist. Not even the gentle, soft-touch ones.

The Accords don’t exist. That’s the first thing Tony finds out. The Accords just don’t exist. It looks like Tony teamed up with Steve to take them down.

Digging through notes that are apparently his own—although, of course, not—Tony comes to the conclusion that, as in the real world, he supported such measures, supported the people’s will, but Steve asked and pestered and badgered and Tony gave in. For the good of the team. Because preserving the team is more important than the right thing. Because Steve’s will holds above all else.

Because Steve Rogers, alpha and superhero, is morally unimpeachable.

He shudders, digging through the records. He would assume the people of the world would riot, but of course they didn’t. Steve’s fantasy of just having people  _ hear _ him, then completely buy into his world view, apparently wasn’t such a fantasy here.

Here, there are YouTube videos with tens of millions of hits, recording Steve speaking in front of the UN. They’re full of earnest passion and blind, idealistic optimism with no grounding in reality. And apparently, in this world, they were bought hook, line, and sinker.

Tony thinks he’ll need dental work, with all the teeth grinding he’s been doing.

Not only do the Accords not exist, but the entire structure of the Avengers team is completely different. Bucky came in immediately after the incident with Project Insight, clearly coming back for Steve. As far as Tony can tell, practically no intervention was needed. Steve got his buddy back, exactly how he wanted him. Bucky is an Avenger and Steve’s right hand man.

And not, Tony knows instinctively, dating Tony. Or even interested, really. Because of course he wouldn’t be. Not in Steve’s fantasy world.

That actually makes him vomit, when it all comes crashing down. He heaves, bent over the toilet in the lab, FRIDAY’s voice concerned, for a certain value of concerned. She seems almost…less real, Tony thinks.

When he’s done, he lays down on the couch in the lab. He’d lay down in bed, but his bed isn’t down here anymore.

Of course it isn’t. This Tony wouldn’t have a sanctuary to retreat to. He wouldn’t need it. He’d be perfectly happy, staying with his alpha.

His  _ alpha _ . Tony’s touched the side of his neck a million times, checked it carefully in the mirror. No bite, thank god. He wonders why not. Maybe Steve just couldn’t bare it, maybe some part of him wanted Tony’s consent. Maybe he has dreams of seducing Tony.

Either way, it’s a blessing and Tony isn’t going to question it.

It means Stark Industries is still his, it means he still has his money and most of his freedom.

From Tony’s research, things are a little different. Society doesn’t seem quite so…worn in. Tony had made progress, during his life. Not as much as he wanted, sure. Not as much as was necessary. But there was some sort of trail made for him, by him, and now…it’s gone.

It’s not as bad as it could have been. He’s allowed to be unmated, the government hasn’t seized his property, physical or intellectual. But, like Tony always says, Steve doesn’t get points for not being the worst.

The door hisses open, and Tony jumps to his feet, arm outstretched. There’s no nanite casing in his chest, so no gauntlet appears. Tony frowns. He’ll need to remedy that as soon as possible.

“How the fuck did you get in here?” he demands.

Steve shrugs. “I just…walked in?” He says.

“FRIDAY…” Tony growls.

“Boss?” She asks, seemingly confused. “Captain Rogers, as team alpha, has unlimited access to the entire complex.”

Tony growls once more and backs away, not turning his back to Steve. “Of course he does.”

“Tony, I…”

“Save it,” Tony manages. He sighs. “You happy now, Rogers?”

Steve scratches his head. “Kind of? I’m sorry you’re upset, but I gave us a second chance. We can fix this now.”

“You were supposed to  _ end _ it!” Tony snarls. He takes a deep breath, gathering himself back under control. “Okay. Okay. We need a plan.”

“We’ll come up with one,” Steve promises. “In the meantime, you should sleep.”

The lights in the lab start to dim. Tony growls. “FRIDAY…”

“Captain Rogers has over-ride clearance?” FRIDAY asks, hesitant, knowing Tony is pissed off but clearly not knowing why.

Tony storms out, shoving past Steve.

 

Of course, there’s nowhere to sleep because apparently he and Steve share a bedroom and Tony refuses, point blank, to do that.

“Tony…” Steve pleads, standing behind the couch where Tony’s laying down, using a throw pillow and an afghan as his bedding. “Come on.”

“No.”

Bucky walks through the room, takes one look at them and immediately turns to Steve, chuckling. Tony pretends that isn’t a knife to the heart.

“Trouble in paradise?” He teases, shaking his head. “C’mon, Stevie. Haven’t you learned to please an omega, by now?” He pairs it with a waggle of his eyebrows that make the meaning clear.

Tony closes his eyes. Can’t watch them talk about him like he’s not here, can’t watch Bucky look at him and not  _ know _ .

_ Tony, I love— _

Tony’s infinitely glad Bucky’s alive again, of course he is. But maybe he’s more selfish than he thought, because he wants… 

He wants his Bucky, he thinks. Not Steve’s Bucky.

“C’mon, Tony,” Bucky says, making Tony’s eyes jerk open. “Cut this idiot some slack. I’m sure whatever it was, it’s not that bad.”

Tony, as painful as it is, ignores Bucky and focuses solely on Steve. “If you want me in that bed,” he says, “you’ll have to force me. Go ahead. Use the voice on me.”

Tony hasn’t run an MRI yet, but he has no doubt that he doesn’t have the protection from the alpha voice anymore. He should get cracking on re-creating that as soon as possible.

The air goes very, very still. Tony stares at Steve, nothing but spite and challenge on his face. Steve bites his lip.

Tony doesn’t think Steve will push it. Steve wants to be the  _ good _ alpha, the one who will show Tony that alphas aren’t all bad, he just has to trust. The one who gets what he wants and only uses the voice in emergencies. The one who proves to Tony the whole system isn’t bogus, that it’s all love and trust and no  _ good _ alpha would ever, ever abuse that power.

Steve backs down a moment later. “Fine,” he says softly. “We’ll…we’ll talk tomorrow.”

Bucky gives him a long, curious look, but then follows Steve out.

 

Tony starts a frenzy of work the next morning. He works on his nanites, he works on the voice blocker, he works on upgrading FRIDAY, he works on earth defense systems, he works on weapons specifically targeted for what he now knows of Thanos’ forces. 

He’s interrupted, multiple times a day, by Steve, who brings food or wants to chat, which Tony of course has no desire to do.

One day—about a week in, Tony thinks, although time is a little fuzzy—it’s Bucky instead of Steve.

Tony works to control his features, to control his pheremones, to not say or do something stupid. Like, for instance, blurt out that he loves the man. “What, Steve send you to do his dirty work?” Tony grouches, bent over the nanite casing.

“Could you cut the guy a break?” Bucky asks, exasperated. “Whatever he did—and he won’t even tell me, by the way—whatever it was, it can’t be this bad.” Tony closes his eyes. His Bucky would never—

His Bucky turned to ash in Wakanda, with Tony millions of miles away. And he never came back.

“Some things are, B—Barnes,” Tony says. He needs to not call him Bucky, needs this not to be Bucky.

Bucky huffs. “This guy works his ass off for you, worries for you, cares so fucking much about you and you just…just hold every mistake over his head?”

“Why are you here, anyways?” Tony snaps, because snapping is better than crying.

Bucky holds up a hand. “Don’t shoot the messenger. Steve’s off with Congress today, asked me to look in on you.”

That’s…a lot to unpack. First of all, the idea that Tony needs to be  _ looked in on _ is one Tony isn’t going to touch with a ten foot pole, because screaming at Bucky seems like a painful endeavor.

But Steve and politics…Tony shudders, already thinking about how he’s going to handle damage control. Steve is…Steve is not politically savvy. He’s idealistic and pig-headed and incredibly naive, sometimes.

But then he stops. This is Steve’s world. The politics, like everything else, will bend to Steve’s will.

Tony huffs. “As you can see, I’m not dead. Mission accomplished, soldier. Keep moving.”

Bucky shakes his head. “What does he see in you?”

“What?”

“You can’t—there’s not a flexible bone in your body, is there?” Bucky asks.

There’s so many directions Tony could go with that. He could start with the obvious sex jokes, which he might make with Bucky if—well, if this was the real world. He could talk about  _ Steve _ , and how he is literally the captain of pig-headedness. 

He takes a deep breath. “Some things are worth holding your ground on.”

Bucky shakes his head. “He only wants what’s best for you. You should listen to him. He just wants to take care of you.”  
“I didn’t ask for that.”

Bucky gives him a weird look. “You didn’t have to. You’re his omega.”

He leaves, which is good, because Tonly only lasts about thirty seconds before he breaks down, crying.

 

The next day, Rhodey strolls into the lab. Tony grins. “Snuggle-bug!”

Rhodey shakes his head. Tony squints. It’s not…the fondness is still there, but it’s somehow muted.

“Tony…” He smiles. “One day, your alpha is gonna take offense.”

Tony grits his teeth. Right. Fake world.

“Mhm,” he hums noncommittally. “What’s up?”

He shrugs. “Thought you’d want to know my assignment ended. And…” He hesitates. “I just ran into Steve, on my way in. He says something’s up with you.”

“I’m fine,” Tony lies through his teeth.

“No, you’re not,” Rhodey says, and it’s the most Rhodey-like thing he’s said since he walked in, Rhodey enough that Tony could almost cry. 

“Ehhh, close enough,” Tony says, shaking a hand side to side, in that classic  _ close enough _ gesture. “Seriously, it’s all fine. We’ll sort it out. So. What can I do for you?”

Tony all but tunes the rest out. Talking to Rhodey who’s not Rhodey is draining.

 

Three days later, Tony emerges after some hasty self-surgery. He’s using a nanite injection to block the alpha voice, a close enough facsimile to what they developed in Wakanda, and he has a casing for the nanite particles for his suit in place, connected to his nerve signals. 

He also has some semblance of a plan.

First thing’s first, he needs to take the stones out of play. Before Thanos makes it back, before history can repeat itself. Thanos might already have a few—power and reality, Tony’s not too sure about when Thanos got those, never got firm timelines—but Tony knows the mind, the soul, the time, and the space stones should still be secure.

The only upside to this world is Tony knows exactly what’s going to happen, or close enough. Maybe Steve’s fantasies fucked with the world, but Tony doubts it. This is what he was afraid of, with the stones. Steve’s soul influenced the pieces of the world that affected him the most, and there wasn’t enough focus, not enough power, to touch the rest.

Thanos is coming, and Tony has a time table for it. He can make a plan.

He storms into the kitchen, where thankfully enough everyone he needs is. Unfortunately, so is everyone else. Tony takes a deep breath, ready for what will turn into a fight.

“Vision,” he says firmly. “I need you. You’re coming to Wakanda with me, right now.”

“Wakanda?” Natasha asks, head tilted. “A third world country?”

Right. Of course. They don’t  _ know _ .

“Sure,” Tony says absently. “Vision. Come on.”

Vision shifts in his seat, and Tony only belatedly realizes his arm was around Wanda. Tony closes his eyes for a second. That had been true in the real world too, to some extent, as much as Tony wished it wasn’t. “I won’t leave my omega,” Vision says.

Tony rolls his eyes. “She’s a grown woman, she can handle herself for three days while you and I sort out the fate of the world.”

Vision hesitates, and Tony feels anger bubbling up inside of him. He’d had to fight for a  _ lot _ in his world, but this is different. This is…every single thing is a fight. Every action, every breath. It’s Sisyphus to the extreme.

He imagines it wouldn’t be in he just lied back and spread his legs and offered to go make dinner after, if he bowed his head and nodded whenever Steve spoke, if he kept his mouth shut. Which isn’t much his style.

Steve clears his throat, looking at Tony. “Is this…”

“Yes,” Tony says shortly.

Steve nods. “Vision, you should go,” he says. “I’ll…I’ll look out for Wanda.”

Tony’s eyes near roll into the back of his head, but it’s honestly more than he hoped for. “You heard the man,” Tony says cheerfully. “Jet leaves in thirty minutes. Waiting on you now.”

 

While Tony knows how to get into Wakanda, he wants to be on the safe side and ensure they’re not shot out of the sky.

He hopes this email address is real, even in this world. He doesn’t quite know what options he’ll have, if she’s not there.

Thankfully, he gets a response just before he started seriously debating aborting the mission. It seems mistrustful, but grudgingly interested, and told him to meet them in Lagos.

Tony course-corrects the jet, and they end up in a small cafe in Nigeria.

Vision looks around uneasily. “I don’t understand the purpose of this trip.”

Tony takes a deep breath. “There’s an evil alien barreling towards Earth, intent of wiping out half the universe, and he wants the rock that’s currently powering your brain. The Princess here might be the only person capable of taking it out without, you know, breaking you.”

Vision shifts uncomfortably. “I…what?” 

Tony takes another deep breath. “I know. It’s a lot to process. But it’s happening, and I’d like that rock destroyed and you not dead.”

Vision sighs. “Tony, this is…this is the same delusion you’ve been having since New York. Certainly since we met. It’s how I was created, isn’t it? I thought Steve was helping you with this.”

Tony almost bites back, but takes a deep breath. It doesn’t do any good to argue with the constraints of the universe Steve created. It would just be bashing his head against a wall. He grits his teeth. “Steve okayed this mission,” he says.

Vision shrugs. “He indulges you, sometimes. Too much, some of the others say. He’s soft on you.”

Tony has to turn away. His Vision would  _ never _ —

He is so far away from his world, and he has to just accept it before the constant reminders shock him into a heart attack.

Thankfully, the door opens, and it’s Shuri, surrounded by three guards.

One of them is vaguely familiar to Tony. He thinks he met her during the Accords fiasco. She scopes out the area, then nods to Shuri.

She sits opposite him. “You really are Tony Stark.”

“You didn’t believe me?”

“Some stranger emails me, makes accusations against my country, and claims to be some white billionaire? No, I didn’t quite believe you,” she returns.

“Fair enough,” Tony concedes. He takes a deep breath. “I’m not sure how much of this you’re going to believe, but I swear every bit is true.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Try me.”

So Tony does. Tells her he’s a time traveler, of a sorts. That he knows a threat is coming. That they’ll lose, if she doesn’t help him destroy the infinity stone in Vision’s head.

He uses nicknames she calls her brother, where she attended school, her family history, facts about Wakandan daily life, all of it to convince her he’s telling the truth.

She sits back in some sort of stunned silence. “Only half of that is true,” she says. “But what you do know, you couldn’t, unless…”

Tony blinks. “In my world, all of that is one hundred percent true,” he promises.

She snorts. “Yes, I call my brother that. But I am not the head of Wakanda’s science division, don’t be stupid. And I didn’t go to school there. I went to an omega school, Stark.”

Tony closes his eyes. Even Wakanda.

“My world was…less strict about omegas,” Tony manages. 

“I thought you time travelled,” she returns. “Shouldn’t everything be the same?”

“The stupid fucking stones are influencing this,” Tony says, desperation for her to believe him crawling into his voice. “I…C’mon, Princess. You’re brilliant. You  _ could _ head Wakanda’s science division.”

“It’s not my place.”

Even Wakanda. Wakanda, a bastion of equality untouched by the norms of Tony’s western upbringing, even Wakanda is corrupted here.

Of course it would be. Steve’s world is precise. Not enough to make omegas like Tony or Shuri dumb or boring or flat, but enough to remind them they had a  _ place _ , that there is some sort of cosmic plan.

Tony almost tastes bile, but chokes it back. “Okay, okay. I don’t need the actual head of the science division. I just need you, genius that you are.”

She tilts her head. “Tell me what we’re talking about.”

“You believe me?” Tony asks.

“Enough.”

 

So they talk science, and Shuri seems to warm up to him with enough science between them. “You could head the science division,” Tony says.

Shuri looks down. “There are…rules.”

Tony bites back whatever was going to come spilling out his mouth, because it’s sure to be toxic and Shuri doesn’t deserve it, not when she’s cosmically set up to react this way.

“What do you do?” Tony asks.

“I…tinker,” she hedges. She moves some variables. “And you, Stark? How exactly does your life work?”

Tony shrugs. “Determination.”

“You run a corporation. That’s…unheard of.”

“Well, that one was dumb luck. Dear old Dad tried to mate me off, but he died before he could make it stick.”

“There were plenty of ways for them to…make it stick,” she says.

“My business partner had a vested interest in keeping me unmated. So he kind of plowed the path for me. Then tried to kill me, but, you know. Sticks and stones and all that.”

Vision clears his throat. “What progress are we making?”

Tony almost forgot he was here, to be honest. This isn’t Tony’s Vision; this is an android with some personality, only that personality is too softened by Steve Rogers to make Tony entirely comfortable.

Shuri purses her lips. “We can remove it without killing you.”

Tony nods, flipping through the data. “Absolutely. It’ll just make a few hours.”

Vision shifts. “I’m not sure…”

Tony sighs, but whips out his phone and calls the  number he just knows is programmed towards the top. “Steve? Tell Vision that he needs to have the stone removed.”

“Tony?”

“Who else? Tell him,” Tony says again.

“Tony, I’m not sure…”

“I’m sure history will fucking repeat itself if we don’t get a move on. You wanted the world’s biggest reset? Fine, but we need to be proactive. And if Vision keeps that in his brain, then I won’t destroy it, and then that’s one more vulnerability to exploit.”

Steve sighs. “If you think it’s best, I…I trust you, Tony.”

_ That’s a first _ , Tony almost says but doesn’t. It’s not strictly true, anyways. Steve’s really good at trusting those who really don’t have the power to defy him.

Tony hands the phone over. He’s not sure what Steve says to Vision, doesn’t really care. Shuri just looks at him, eyebrow raised. “You talk to your alpha like that?” She hisses.

Tony raises a hand to the side of his neck, half self-conscious and half to prove a point. “He hasn’t bitten me yet.”

Shuri’s eyebrow raises further. “Why does he  _ let _ you talk to him like that?”

Tony swallows. “Let doesn’t have much to do with it,” he says.

Thankfully, Steve seems done with Vision, who hands the phone back to Tony. “Alright,” Vision concedes. “Captain Rogers approves, so I’ll follow along with your plan.”

“You know, we’re the scientists,” Tony points out. “On this subject, Steve’s word isn’t worth much.”

Vision pins him with a harsh look. “You have a history of biting off more than you can chew,” Vision says. “Captain Rogers has been a necessary check on you. His word is the only thing that allows us to continue.”

Tony turns away, pretending to read data, even if he’s just unable to continue looking at Vision while he hears anything but his Vision.

 

The operation is successful. It takes seven hours, but they are left with Vision, still alive and seemingly curiously staring at the blank red flesh of his forehead. 

With enough time and effort, Tony’s pretty sure he could have carried out the operation on his own. But they would need vibranium, to fix Vision.

Besides, the bigger picture part of him needed to know where Wakanda was at, for his planning.

Tony uses a nanite glove to pick up the Mind Stone, turning it over and over in his hands. “I’ll find a way to destroy this,” he murmurs.

Shuri tilts her head. “You don’t have a way to destroy it?” 

Tony grimaces. “I have a couple,” he says. “None of them are too promising, though.”

 

Wanda flat-out refuses to do it. Won’t even consider it, when Tony asks.

So of course Steve steps in, and she suddenly changes her tune. “But why?” She demands. “ _ He _ removed it from Vision. That’s Vision’s.”

“It’s a powerful alien artifact that’ll get us all killed, Vision included,” Tony snaps.

Steve steps between them. “Look, Wanda. There’s things you don’t know. There’s…something coming. We’re trying to prevent a tragedy, here.”

She bites her lip. “For you, Steve…okay.”

So Tony watches as Steve, who doesn’t have any more of a logical or valuable argument than him, talks Wanda into destroying the Mind Stone. Because he’s an alpha, and Tony Stark is just the lowly omega.

Still, when it’s all over, when the stone is fragmented shards that seem to evaporate on sight, Tony can’t bring himself to mind.

One down, five to go. And he knows just where to find the next one.


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony continues his quest to destroy the Stones. Steve's world is an awful place to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, all!
> 
> Welcome to this next chapter; officially halfway through this now.
> 
> Warnings for: Steve is pretty awful in this chapter. He doesn't ever mean to be or want to be, but his head is pretty far up his own ass. Unfortunately, Bucky is also pretty damn awful in this chapter. His actions are influenced by Steve's world. Minor physical assault, and some gaslighting going on.
> 
> Here, we have the introduction of our Asgardian crew.
> 
> One last thing; like the last several chapters of Empathic Responses, I have no beta and I'm looking over these on my own. I sincerely apologize for errors.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

The Sanctum looks the same as the brief look Tony got of it before Thanos’ crew had rolled up. It’s all weird artifacts, which Tony swears are more for effect than anything. He tries to hide his grimace.

Strange looks the same, too. Tony tries not to see Strange, lying on the rocks of Titan, fading away, whispering that it was the  _ only way _ , that they entered the  _ endgame. _

Tony’s long since realized that Strange saw exactly what Tony went through, that he saw what would happen, and that he  _ apologized _ for it.

Right now, though, Strange looks supremely unimpressed. “You want to destroy…”

“The glowing rock, yeah,” Tony nods. He sighs. “It’s the Time Stone. Just use it. See if what I say is true.”

“This is…”

“Face it, Criss Angel, I know too much about your little thing to be a joke. Check it out. Explore time.”

Strange’s mouth, already pressed thin, goes smaller. “The…Time Stone…has been a little temperamental lately. The Eye isn’t able to view the past.”

That would make sense, Tony figures, because the past isn’t  _ real _ ; there’s a time loop here, somewhere, and then the fact that half of this is just Steve’s imagination.

“Can you look forward?” Tony presses. “Check it out. It’s true. Thanos is coming. For that rock you wear like the most tragic fashion accessory.”

Strange just stares at him for a moment and then sighs. Tony feels his frustration coming off him in waves, the spicy-hot annoyance hitting him.   
And just like that, he’s reminded again that he’s nothing more than the annoying, pushy omega.

Strange seems to reconcile something within himself, though, and he nods. “I’ll look,” he allows. 

The eye opens up, and the green glow intensifies. Strange is deep in meditation, and Tony withdraws, not wanting to intrude.

When Strange comes back, his eyes seem a little glazed. “There is…something wrong with the world.”

Tony nods. “Caused by the stones.”

“It’s a…taint, over everything. But I could see it. It’s like you said. Thanos will come, and he’ll kill us, and he’ll get the stones.” He looks Tony dead in the eyes. “Tell Captain Rogers that I agree with his assessment. I’ll support you in ending this fight.”

Tony bites his tongue—Steve had  _ nothing _ to do with this, except making the problem worse, of course—and nods.

“We need to destroy it.”

“We might have a way to help,” Strange says. “I’ll get back to you.”

And with that, he does a complicated gesture and disappears, leaving Tony alone.

 

Tony assumed leaving the Sanctum would be the least exciting part of his day, but unfortunately, he’s dead wrong.

His car must have tipped people off, because four or five paparazzi are waiting for him. The flashes are blinding, and Tony draws on a long-standing pile of strength to keep himself from reacting.

“Mr. Stark—Mr. Stark, what are you doing here?”  
Tony ignores her.

“Mr. Stark, whose home is this?”

“Mr. Stark, where is Captain Rogers?”

“Mr. Stark, is it true that you and Captain Rogers have planned a mating ceremony?”

“Mr. Stark, is it true that Captain Rogers left you?”  
“Mr. Stark—”

Tony slams the car door shut, then has to wait for city traffic to open enough for him to pull onto the road and firmly away from the mess behind him.

He hits the wheel, once, just to burn off some aggression.  _ Dammit _ .

 

The TV is on when he walks into the Compound. 

“ —Sources now confirm that the house in question is occupied by Dr. Stephen Strange, an acclaimed neurosurgeon. The alpha left his posting a little over a year ago after a gruesome accident caused irreparable damage to his hands. No word yet on  _ what _ Tony Stark was doing there,” the anchor finishes, her very tone implying what she thinks Tony was doing there.

Eyes turn to Tony, who feels like he has the fucking scarlet letter emblazoned on his chest.

Bucky’s on him first, moving faster than an average human, with his metal hand balled in Tony’s shirt. “Sneakin’ ‘round on Steve?” He demands, voice rough.

Tony freezes for a moment, fight or flight temporarily suspended by the sheer shock of  _ Bucky _ doing this.

Of course he would. Steve’s Bucky would defend Steve to the ends of the earth and back, warranted or not.

It just about kills him to do it, but Tony uses his nanites to construct a gauntlet. He aims it at Bucky.

_ Not Bucky _ , he reminds himself.

“Get your rabid dog off of me,” Tony says cooly, eyes finding Steve in the crowd. 

“Buck…”

Bucky turns to Steve. “Don’t let him…you let him get away with everythin’, Stevie. Don’t let him get away with this.”

Tony wants to roll his eyes and narrowly avoids doing so. Of course. Steve’s the kind-hearted, constantly giving,  _ victim _ in this world. Tony’s the aggressor, Tony’s the one doing harm.

“Buck…”

Bucky growls, but lets go. Tony takes a step back, gauntlet still raised. Once he’s sure Bucky isn’t coming for him again, Tony turns towards Steve, tuning everyone else out. “I’m handling our issue,” he says. “Strange has another Stone. Says he thinks he has a way to destroy it. Also says he’ll stand with us against what’s coming.”

“Can someone  _ please _ explain what the fuck is going on?” Sam says.

Steve sighs. “Sit down, everyone.”

People spring to do that immediately. Steve paces a bit. “An alien attack is coming.”

Natasha looks at Tony with speculation. “Did Tony tell you that?”

“It’s  _ my _ intel,” Steve stresses. “Tony’s helping me out.”

Not strictly true, but Tony bares the injustice of this.

“Stark sees monsters in every shadow,” Wanda says. “We know this.”

Tony turns to her. “You’d know better than most, huh, since you made sure to put some of them there?”

“What’re you blabbering about?” Bucky asks.

“Wanda messed with my mind, once,” Tony says succinctly.

“She’s apologized,” Vision says staunchly, as if his word is law and the matter is closed.

She hadn’t, not really. She had chosen not to die when Ultron spun out of control, and Steve had taken that as remorse, and Tony hadn’t been able to argue.

Tony grits his teeth. “The point being that that was beside the point. I didn’t make this up. Listen to Steve.”

“Anyways, Thanos wants the Infinity Stones. Vision had one in him, so that’s why Tony removed it and why Wanda destroyed it. Strange has another.”

“How many?” Sam asks.

“Six.”

“Where are the others?”

“One’s on Asgard,” Tony says. “Finding a way to contact them is my next project.”

“And the other three?”

“Don’t know,” Tony says. It’s not a lie, entirely. “Voramir, maybe, for one of them.” He taps his chest over the nanite casing, where the arc reactor once was. 

Sam rubs over his face. “Steve. Are you sure?”

“Very sure. And if Strange is going to help us, then Strange is going to help us.”

Everyone nods. Tony gets up and walks out. 

 

Bucky finds him in the lab forty-five minutes later. Tony has his tongue between his teeth, looking into ways to jump space travel forward hundreds of years in about an afternoon.

Bucky scuffs his feet behind him. “What do you want, B—Barnes?” Tony asks.

“I just…I wanted you to know that I don’t…I don’t treat omegas like that.”

Tony raises an unimpressed eyebrow, looking somewhere over Bucky’s shoulder instead of at his face. “Your record shows otherwise,” Tony says. “But I’m sure you have this whole story to tell me, about how you’re a  _ good _ alpha and you wouldn’t ever put your hands on some poor omega. Well, here’s me and here’s my mom, and we’re calling bullshit.”

Bucky rears back. “You know about that?”

“Know about? What are you…” Tony trails off. This is Steve’s world. In Steve’s world, not telling Tony to “spare him” would have worked out just fine. “I know,” Tony says coldly. “I know you wrapped your hand around my mother’s neck and choked her death.”

He hasn’t blamed Bucky since he was lying for dead in a cold Siberian Bunker, but right now, that anger comes bubbling back up.

“And that shouldn’t say anything about how you treat omegas,” Tony continues, forcing that anger back down. “I know HYDRA controlled you. I’m not angry. Other than you keeping it from me. Because  _ that _ says just as much about how you really treat omegas as grabbing me when you got angry.”

“Steve said—It was just to protect you,” Bucky flounders.

Tony closes his eyes. He can’t call him Bucky anymore. Can’t do it. This isn’t his Bucky.

“Barnes, you’re digging a hole, here. Keep your hands to yourself and leave me the fuck alone,” Tony snarls. “‘Cause you  _ do _ treat omegas like that. Don’t matter what you  _ want _ to be like, Barnes. Matters how you act when the stakes are high, and I’m seeing your record, and I’m not impressed.”

Tony tries very, very hard not to think about his Bucky, who didn’t make even the most common requests orders, who asked permission, who sat outside and slept in the cold instead of putting Tony in a bad position, who would have  _ killed _ this version of himself.

“You don’t…can’t you call me Bucky?” Barnes asks, seemingly grasping at straws.

“No, I don’t think I can,” Tony says, and then he turns to leave  _ his own lab _ , lest Barnes see him cry.

 

The next day, Tony has a meeting with Pepper scheduled. He needs to see the company, needs to see how things are being handled in this world.

And while the company is seemingly flourishing, Tony feels...excluded. Sure, he’s not the CEO anymore, but he’s head of R&D and the showman and, hell, his name is on the side of the building. You’d think there’d be a little more…

Respect.

“What can I do for you today, Tony?” Pepper asks.

“Just came in to look around,” Tony says. “See you. Maybe get lunch?”

She shakes her head. “Tony, I need to work.”

“And I need to be involved with the company,” he shoots back “C’mon, Potts. It’s a business meeting.”

“Tony, the whole point of me running the company is that you aren’t. It’s better for the company,” she says, eyes appraising.

It feels like a slap to the face.

“I’ll show myself out, then,” he says, because if he doesn’t, it’ll become a fight.

Pepper, too, then, he thinks as he enters the elevator. He doesn’t know why he expected anything different, why he didn’t anticipate her stone-walling him out of his own company, but he didn’t.

“Tony Stark? I need you to come with me.”

And then Stephen Strange whisks Tony through a magical portal in front of half a dozen or so SI staffers.

 

“Where am I?” Tony angrily demands on the other side, jerking himself free.

“The Kamar-Taj,” Strange says shortly. “Wong found something.”

Wong, presumably, walks out of the stacks. “We can destroy the stone,” he says. “But losing the Eye of Agamotto is not something to undertake lightly.”

“It’s that or the universe,” Tony points out.

Wong doesn’t even look at him. Strange sighs. “Unfortunately, he’s right. We need to do this.”

It’s a spell, and both wizards operate it simultaneously. The stone glows brighter and brighter, so bright it’s almost blinding, before it shatters into a million pieces, each of them flying off before evaporating.

Tony takes a deep breath. Two down.

He doesn’t know what the threshold is, what the magic number is that makes Thanos less of a threat. Therefore, Tony has to shoot for all six.

“It’s done,” Wong announces. He side-eyes Tony. “Get him out of here.”

Without so much as asking, Strange grabs Tony and teleports them back to the Sanctum in New York.

When they arrive, Strange withdraws his hand as if burnt. “You have…you have a lot of power radiating from you.”

“Thanks?”  
Strange’s eyes narrow. “It matches the signature of the stones.”

“I…existed in the soul stone for a little while?” Tony hazards. 

Strange shakes his head. “ _ Stones _ . Plural.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You say you existed in one of the stones?” Strange muses. “Their power, when we break them, has to go somewhere. It might be attracted to you. Like attracts like.”

Tony swallows. “What does that mean for me?”

Strange shrugs. “Possibly nothing. You should tell Captain Rogers, though. So he can keep an eye on you.”

And just like that, Tony’s bitterly reminded how the world works.

“Right,” he says through his teeth. “Well, thanks. I’ll be going.”

“Stark.”

“Mhm?”

“Be careful. If what you say is true…Thanos will be looking for you.”

_ Huh _ . Well, that’s something. Tony taps his chest, absently. “I’m counting on it,” he says.

 

Tony doesn’t mention anything to Steve, or anyone else. He doesn’t  _ have _ anyone else. FRIDAY responds to Steve, sometimes before Tony. Vision asks how high when Steve says jump. Rhodey is worried about perception, and Pepper is apparently Tony’s minder. Peter isn’t even in Tony’s life. Bucky— _ Barnes _ —isn’t an option.

Tony has never quite felt this lonely. 

Still, he knows what he has to do next. The two stones he’s dealt with so far will be  _ nothing _ , compared to what’s next on his to-do list.

Steve enters the lab. “Heard you were with Strange today,” he says, and it’s almost conversational, except for the hard set to his eyes.

“Where’d you hear that?”

“Pepper told me,” Steve says.

Pepper. Of course. This Pepper is a tattle-tale, this Pepper collaborates with Steve against him. Tony wonders how often Steve dreamed about that, in their world, about having  _ Pepper Potts _ , of all people, on his side against Tony.

“Yup,” Tony says, not voicing any of that. “One more stone down. Four more to go. Next on my list is Asgard.”

“Asgard? Tony, that’s a little…”

“Little what?” Tony challenges. 

Steve shakes his head. “Calm down. You don’t need to be so antagonistic.”

Tony raises an eyebrow. “Steve, tell me. Has that  _ ever _ worked for you? Telling me what to do, how to act?”

Steve scowls. “Tony, people are talking.”

“That I don’t do what you tell me to? Good. This world could use a little of that, since you’ve turned everyone into such little robots.”

“I haven’t—”

“Of course you have, listen to them. Everything’s different. Pepper tattles, Rhodey’s all about appearance and reigning me in. Bucky’s all about being your staunchest defender, Vision looks to you for guidance. None of that is  _ normal _ . You made this world, own the consequences—”

“Don’t interrupt me,” Steve says.

“Oh, I’ll fucking interrupt you all right, I—”

“I’m sorry you don’t like it, but there’s nothing wrong here, Tony. Things aren’t the same but it’s not bad. No one’s getting hurt. We have a chance to fix things. In…In the universe, and with us.”

Tony snorts. “Never in a hundred million years, Rogers. Not if you were the last person on the planet. Not if the mating requirement came back into effect. Never on the table.”

“Tony, what we had—it was  _ good _ . Let me prove it to you. They already all think we’re mates, let me just…show you it could be good.”

“That’s half the problem, Rogers,” Tony says. “You created a world where we’re almost mated. Against my will. Knowing I want nothing to do with you. And you don’t see a single reason why I should be pissed.”

Steve sighs, a deep, ragged thing, like it’s taking all his effort. “What can I do to make it up to you?”

“Actually make half an effort to understand what I just said,” Tony says. “Now, if you excuse me; I need to book a trip to Sweden.”

 

Tony arrives at a less-than promising apartment in Stockholm fifteen hours later, Steve thankfully left to cool off in the States. If Tony didn’t know any better, he wouldn’t look twice at this apartment.

Thankfully he knows better. He rings the buzzer and waits to be let up, where he’s faced by a tiny woman with a fierce scowl. “What do you want?”

Tony raises an eyebrow. “What’d I do to you, exactly, Foster?”

“I don’t like superheros tracking me down.”

Tony raises his hands. “I come in peace. I need…I need a favor. Scientific research.”

She hesitates, then lets him in. 

The apartment is a mess, books and coffee mugs and scientific equipment strewn everywhere. The window in the back is open, even in the chill, with a top of the line telescope poking out of it.

“I can’t find him for you,” she says, apparently knowing what Tony’s after. “We broke up.”

Tony bites his lip. He remembers that, back in his timeline. Remembers Thor telling them casually, remembers Thor shrugging it off. It’d been a casual affair. A passionate one, yes. He loved her, yes. But it was all short-term. She was a beta, he an alpha; all parties knew it would end, that Thor couldn’t stay with her permanently.

At the time, Tony had questioned whether Foster had maybe been more attached that Thor believed. From her voice, Tony’s pretty sure that he was right.

“You’re kinda the expert on interdimensional travel,” Tony says, shrugging. “The Einstein-Rosen bridge? You’re  _ the _ expert. I need you.”

“What do you need with Asgard?”

“An alien is coming, and his plan is to wipe out half the universe,” Tony says succinctly. “There are only so many things that can do that. I’m destroying them. I know for a fact Asgard has one.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Might have seen it before. The Tesseract? New York?”

She sucks in a breath. “I…Selvig told me a bit about that,” she agrees begrudgingly. Then she shrugs. “I still don’t know how to contact him. I wasn’t lying.”

Tony racks his brain for everything he knows about Asgard, for everything he already knew and everything he learned in the other timeline. “There’s that…watcher guy. Heimdall.”

“Right.”

“If we got his attention…think he’d send Thor?”

“It’s possible,” she allows.

Tony grins. “Great,” he says. “That’s all I need.”

 

Somehow, they end up on a plane, then in the desert, then shouting at the sky.

They look like idiots, Tony thinks, and he’s glad there’s no one there to see them. “I don’t think this is working,” Tony says.

She frowns. “Heimdall sees everything. He sees us.”

“Great,” Tony gripes. “So he’s waiting to see how far we’ll go to embarrass ourselves.”

“He’ll come,” Jane says. She doesn’t sound very sure.

Suddenly, it’s like a lightning strike. When the flash fades, a man stands from a crouch.

“Heimdall,” Jane breathes. “Heimdall!”

The man strides towards them. “Heimdall,” Tony says.

The man stops and considers them. His lip curls. “Tony Stark,” he says, nodding. “There is something wrong with you.”

Tony starts. “Well, I’m sorry, then, but…”

“Your image. It’s…blurred. I can’t see your past.”

Tony grimances. “Yeah, I bet. I’ve been hit with the Infinity Stones, did some time-hopping.”

Heimdall stares at him. “How do you know about the stones?”

“Time travel,” Tony says. “I have plenty of experience.”

“What did you want from me?”

“We need Thor. And the tesseract. It’s an infinity stone, I’m sure you know it. It needs to be destroyed.”

Heimdall’s brow furrows. “Explain.”

Tony sighs. “You’re supposed to be all-knowing. Ever heard of Thanos?”  
Heimdall’s lip curls. “Have care how you speak.”

“Stark,” Jane says, lips not moving as she talks. “Don’t piss off the one guy who can help you.”

Tony closes his eyes. “Look for me,” he urges. “Please. The fate of the universe—and, in my timeline, all of Asgard—depends on it.”

Heimdall’s eyes glow bright as he apparently looks. When he comes back, it’s sudden, and his face is marred with concern. “That is troubling,” he agrees. He hesitates. “I…I am no longer the Guardian of the Bifrost.”

“What?” Jane asks, aghast.

“Odin has seen fit to replace me.”

Tony wracks his brain, remembers what Bruce had told him in the few minutes they had together. “That’s not Odin,” Tony supplies. “It’s Loki. In disguise. I remember this happening.”

Heimdall shakes his head. “I would have…I would have seen it.”

“Loki’s tricked you before,” Jane says softly.

“He banished you, because he was afraid, if you were close, you’d see through his disguise,” Tony adds.

“Where is the King?” Heimdall demands.

“On Earth, I think. I don’t know where.” Tony closes his eyes again. “One more thing. I think they told me that the King dies, and some seal gets released, and Hela shows up and destroys Asgard, which puts the survivors in Thanos’ path, so…if we could head that off now, that’d be great.”

“Hela?” Heimdall demands.

“If the King dies, she comes back, doesn’t she?” Tony asks.

Heimdall’s eyes glow again. “Loki hid him well,” Heimdall says, voice a deep rumble. “But I was not looking before. I have found my King. I must go to him.”

“Wait!” Tony shouts. “I need Thor.”

Heimdall raises an eyebrow. “You need to learn your place,” he corrects. “But for your information, fine. I will contact him for you.”

His eyes glow once more. When he comes back to himself, he looks to Tony. “Thor will come,” he announces. “Be ready.”

And with that, he disappears.

 

Heimdall, it turns out, didn’t feel the need to be specific. They sit in the van Tony rented and wait.

“This is ridiculous,” Tony says.

“He’ll come,” Jane insists. Tony watches her, peering anxiously out the window.

“How long it’s, uh, been?” Tony asks.

She doesn’t pretend that she doesn’t understand. “Six months, give or take a few weeks,” she says. She closes her eyes. “Two weeks.”

Tony hums. “Thor, he…I’m sorry. He…” Tony doesn’t know a way to say it without being an asshole; Thor just didn’t ever feel the same way for her that he felt for him. She was temporary, a beta when Thor had always been led to believe that alphas and omegas were destined halves, that they  _ fit _ together.

“Yeah.”

Tony sighs, and takes his own turn staring at the sky. Like they wouldn’t know when Thor shows up.

He shakes his head, then leans back and closes his eyes. Just for a moment.

 

The sky splits , the rainbow so bright it burns. Tony wakes up, flailing in his seat for a moment before getting his footing back.

Before them stands Thor, with Loki scruffed in one hand.


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony gets another stone. Then, Tony and Steve finally get their showdown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, all!
> 
> Here we have Thor and Loki. Loki will continue to be of some importance in this fic. I was kinda interested in him last time around, but couldn't figure out how to use him. Apparently, this is it.
> 
> Warnings: The world is, as always, against Tony. That includes the team. There is a brief threat of Wanda's mind control magic, which probably isn't meant the way Tony takes it, but, given past history, the assumptions he makes make sense. Everyone is jerks to omegas. Steve and Tony finally have a showdown, which features BARF. Tony has some pretty awful memories and feelings about being an omega.
> 
> Oh, Steve does imply that Tony, with his behavior and his refusal to conform, is anti-omega, and Tony briefly talks about his feelings on the subject and whether he would have chosen it. This does have some real-life parallels, so I wanted to make sure you were warned.
> 
> Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

“Oh, shit,” Tony murmurs, staring at the two Norse gods in front of their van.

Jane is already scrambling for the door latch, running out, apparently heedless of the danger. “Thor!”

Tony winces. Relationships just hit you like that, sometimes, he supposes. Maybe he shouldn’t have brought her in; it’s going to be hard when Thor doesn’t spare her a second glance.

Thor’s face furrows. “Jane? Did you have Heimdall call for me?”

She stops in her tracks, as if suddenly coming back to herself. “I…I have Tony Stark here. He needed to get a hold of you.”

Thor blinks. “Tony?”

Tony walks forward. “Hey, Point-Break.”

Thor’s face breaks into a smile. “Tony! My friend, how can I help you?”

“I see you found your brother.”

“Most pleased to know he’s still alive,” Thor agrees, hefting Loki a bit higher. “You had Heimdall find me?”

Tony takes a deep breath. “The Tesseract. It’s an Infinity Stone, isn’t it?”

Loki’s eyes light up. “A smart Midgardian,” he comments.

Thor shakes him.

“Thanos is coming,” Tony says, and watches Loki’s face dramatically change. “He’s looking for the stones. I’ve destroyed two. Three are out of my reach. But if we take out three…that’ll limit his ability to destroy the universe.”

“Destroy the universe?” Thor asks.

Tony eyes him closely. “Why don’t you ask Loki about it? I think he might know.”

All eyes turn to the god, who has his own eyes closed. “I did try to tell you,” he says after a moment. “But Father was rather more interested in putting me in a cell until I  _ learned my place _ .”

“Thanos sent you, didn’t he?” Tony guesses. “Back in New York?”

Loki nods. “We were…partners.”

_ Partners _ . Right. Loki still looks like curdled milk.

“Then Loki can at least confirm what Heimdall saw and I said,” Tony says, hurriedly making sure his own statements are backed by others. He’s getting used to being ignored as an omega.

Thor frowns. “So, you seek to destroy the tesseract?”

Tony nods.

Thor seems to ponder it. “I brought it,” he admits, removing it from amongst his cape. It’s bright in the dark night. Jane gasps. “Don’t worry, Jane,” Thor says, voice soft. “It can’t hurt you.”

Loki shifts, seemingly uncomfortable in Thor’s unyielding hold. “Mjolnir might be able to destroy it,” he says.

Thor releases his brother, dropping him. Loki regains his footing like a cat. Thor looks at him, eyes hard, and extends Mjolnir towards him. “You move, and I hunt you down,” Thor promises darkly.

Loki smiles. “I have no intention of going anywhere, brother.”

Tony doesn’t really believe him, but he figures Loki isn’t really his problem. He turns to Thor, who sets the Tesseract on the ground and raises Mjolnir. “Back away,” he warns, so Tony and Jane retreat a few feet.

Thor smashes the tesseract. Jane sucks in a sharp breath at the blinding light and fast-moving shards before they dissipate. Tony’s getting oddly used to this,honestly, and can’t even bring himself to go beyond a little heart-skip.

Only in his life, really.

When they approach Thor again, once the light’s dissipated, Loki looks at Tony with interest. “Your energy has changed.”

Tony runs a self conscious hand over his chest. “Yeah?”

“The stones…they’re sticking to you, are they not?” Loki asks, looking half-troubled, half-intrigued.

Tony shrugs. “They…might be,” he allows.

“What does that mean?” Thor demands.

“The stones have chosen Stark,” Loki says. “For what, we don’t know yet.”

Tony thinks about it. In his own timeline, the stones had half chosen him, after he killed Thanos. Maybe they’re just returning.

“Does your alpha know of this? If this is true, it’s troubling. Something is coming for you. He can protect you,” Thor says.

Tony bites his tongue, and shares a commiserating look with Loki. “He knows I’m taking out the stones,” Tony allows. “He understands the importance of this.” He changes the subject. “I take it you’re on your way back to sort out Asgard and your Dad?”

“Once we find him,” Thor agrees, glaring at his brother, who looks almost entirely unrepentant. 

“Before you go…what do you know about interstellar travel?” 

 

Tony and Jane part ways at the airport. Tony shakes her hand firmly. “Thank you, Foster,” he says. “If you’re ever looking for…funding, or a job, or a place to crash…well, you know where I am.”

She smiles. “Happy to help. Good luck with…saving the universe?”

Tony sighs. “Yeah. That.”

 

Tony arrives back at the Compound four hours later. FRIDAY calls for him as soon as he walks in. “Boss, Captain Rogers is looking for you.”

Tony takes a deep, steadying breath. “Sure,” he says. “Tell him I’ll be right there.”

He distantly remembers the days where he and FRIDAY had decided that she was above passing petty messages.

Steve isn’t alone. Natasha, Clint, Wanda, and Bucky are all hanging around. Tony takes a step back. “Is this an intervention?” He jokes.

The joke falls flat, which is never a good sign.

“Tony,” Natasha says in that pseudo-calm tone of hers, “there’s been…some press.”

FRIDAY helpfully presents a long list of news stories.

“It’s causing some PR problems for the team,” she continues. 

Tony grits his teeth and looks over the list.

_ Stark growing back beard; rebellious omega re-emerging? _

_ Stark travels out-of-state on secret mission without alpha. _

_ Stark showing re-emerging instability; frightens investors. _

Tony swallows. This is… 

The press caused him plenty of problems in his world. They hounded him, read into his every move, scrutinized him in ways they wouldn’t anyone else. But he could mostly travel, live his life without issue. Sure, the  _ Inquirer _ might make it into one of its crazy stories, but most would leave him alone unless he did something really outrageous.

If Tony felt like his world was confining, this is one thousand times worse. 

“Care to explain yourself?” Barnes growls.

Tony wishes he’d become immune to this. That he could just shut down, stop reacting every time Bucky isn’t his Bucky.

Instead, it takes him a moment to be able to even speak. “What do you want from me?” He asks, exhausted and showing it. He doesn’t really care anymore.

“We need you to  _ care _ , Tony,” Natasha says firmly. “You’re not on your own. When you were, it was just bad behavior, a bad story. But now it affects all of us. You have to realize that.”

Tony snorts. Of course. 

“Tony,” Steve says, all earnest eyes, “Wanda is here to help. She’s…offered to help you navigate what it means to be an omega.”

Tony rears back, apathy gone in a flash of fear. “Don’t come near me,” he snarls. “Leave my brain the  _ fuck _ alone.”

Everyone else reacts, acting like he just said something awful. “How  _ dare _ you accuse Wanda of that,” Clint snaps. “You won’t distract us from this by saying awful things.”

“It’s not going to work with us,” Natasha says. “You can’t push us away. We know you better.”

Tony goes very still. Of course, in Steve’s universe, they’d all defend Wanda, no one would see her as a threat. Hell, for all Tony knows, she isn’t a threat here. Not with how Steve babies her.

And of course Steve’s crew would talk some psycho-babble about Tony pushing people away. Sure, Tony  _ does _ , but of course Steve would use it as an excuse to put everything back on Tony.

Tony grits his teeth so hard he thinks he’ll need to invest in some cosmetic dentistry to fix the damage. “Steve, can I talk to you for a moment?” He asks. “Privately?”  
Bucky gives Steve a long, hard look as Steve walks over to Tony. Steve nods and leads the way out of the room, the others left at their backs.

“Tony, we need to—”

“You need to shut up,” Tony says, uncaring about following rules now that the others aren’t here to see it. “Jesus Christ, Steve. Your mind is one twisted place, I’ll tell you that. How I ever thought you were a decent option is completely beyond me, when  _ this _ is your ideal world.”

“Tony—”

Tony doesn’t let him get a word in. “You never wanted  _ me _ , clearly. Don’t know why I’m surprised, really. I mean, Christ, Steve. Here I am, unable to grow fucking facial hair without it being front page news, unable to do my job. Fuck you and fuck your self-righteous alpha posturing bullshit.” He shakes his head. “And threatening to sick Wanda on me. I can’t believe that one, genuinely can’t.”

“She really just wants to talk to you, to  _ help _ you be happy, it’s not a threat…” Steve tries.

“Oh, I’m sure. Sure, because the Wanda I know is all about talking it out. Not like she didn’t threaten to erase my brain recently enough. Not like you didn’t totally ignore me when I brought it up.”

Steve sighs. “Tony, let me help. You can be happy. I can  _ make _ you happy, here, if you’d just…”

“What?” Tony sneers. “Give in? Let it happen? Happiness isn’t forced, Steve. I’m perfectly happy with who I am, thanks.” Not entirely true, but he won’t be made happier by being a little omega puppet.  
“You act like it’s torture, like it’s something awful. What do you have against being an omega, huh? What do you have against omegas?”

The slap rings out across the room, almost as loud as the crack that’s definitely a broken bone in Tony’s hand. He does his best not to react, just calls forth the nanites as armor to restrain Steve, who struggles against their bond but doesn’t succeed in breaking free.

“How  _ dare _ you,” Tony seethes, subtly trying to move his hand. Definitely broken. Oh well. He’s still pretty sure it was worth it. “How dare you imply that this is because  _ I _ am against omegas. I’m not the one currently telling omegas who they can and can’t be. Because omegas are fucking people, Steve. Revelation, I know. I’m a person, not a doll, and yeah, that means we’re all a little different. I’m fucking proud to be an omega. Would I have chosen it, if I had that choice? Probably not; it’s painful and the fight is literally unwinnable some days. But you know what? I’ve worked with it and I’m fucking proud of who I am.” He shakes his head. “I love being an omega. I love who I am, I love what it gives me. It’s assholes like  _ you _ and yours that I can’t tolerate.” Tony takes a second, scents the air. Steve is…a little afraid. It’s soft, mingled in with the righteousness and sickening “care,” but it’s there. Good.

“Omega doesn’t mean doll, or pet, Steve,” Tony says. “And me not wanting to be those things doesn’t make me less of an omega, you sanctimonious ass.”

Tony takes a deep breath, wondering if he can set the bone in his hand himself. “I’m leaving,” he announces. “You don’t have to worry about the omega embarrassing you anymore, Rogers. I’m on my way out. I literally just came back long enough to pack up the lab and tell you.”

“Where are you going?” Steve asks with trepidation.

“Thanos,” Tony says bluntly. “To end, for once and for all, what  _ you _ should have handled.”

Steve’s face is almost comical. “Tony, you—you can’t! You can’t take on Thanos, what the hell are you thinking? We don’t have a plan, and you need the team behind you, and—”

“I don’t have a team,” Tony interrupts harshly. “Not on this world, not when you’ve taken away even those that  _ are _ on my side, corrupted them.” He takes a deep breath. “And  _ you _ don’t have a plan. That’s the problem. You’re always reactionary. I’ve known Thanos was coming since 2012, you idiot. And now, I’ve killed him before. I know  _ exactly _ what to do, how to solve this problem. So get out of my way, or I will not hesitate to take you down.”

_ Omega Stark murders alpha, reasons why unknown _ would have a nice ring to it, as a headline, Tony supposes.

“You  _ can’t _ go,” Steve says stubbornly, feet planted and chin jutted out even as he’s restrained. “There is  _ no way _ I can allow this. Tony, as your alpha—”

“As my alpha?” Tony asks incredulously. “Think you skipped a couple steps there, bud. No dice.”

“Tony, as your…friend, you  _ can’t _ go,” Steve says. “I…I won’t let you.”

“You won’t  _ let _ me?” Tony asks, advancing forward a step towards the still restrained Steve. “Steve, think very carefully before you continue.  _ Thanos _ , the Mad Titan, the destroyer of the universe, thought he could order me around. I killed the most powerful being in the universe, with my own hands, when he stood in my way. I didn’t fucking hesitate.” Tony makes sure to smile, showing too many teeth. He takes another step forward. “So be very careful where you go next, because he scared me a hell of a lot more than you do.”

Steve takes a deep breath, and his eyes set the way they do when he’s going to do something stupid and going to justify it as  _ for the greater good _ . “Tony,” he says, alpha voice thick and strong, “You’re not allowed to go.”

Tony blinks, unaffected. Well, it’s nice to know the blocker works. He hadn’t been able to use vibranium in the design, and he hasn’t tested it yet.

“Done yet?” Tony asks, eyebrow raised. 

“How—How…”

“One of the first things I took care of,” Tony says. He flashes the shark grin again. “Like I said, I’m not your doll, Rogers.” He shakes his head. “If you thought I was ever going to trust you again…I know how you operate, Rogers. Your self-righteousness, your ability to justify any of your terrible choices. As long as you get your way, right? I’ll let you in on a secret. When my Aunt Peggy talked about planting yourself like a tree, she didn’t mean those with power, and that’s you, you colossal tragedy.”

“I only ever did it to protect you,” Steve says, desperately. He struggles against the bonds, like he wants to get to Tony. They don’t give.

“You did it to get your way because you think you know better,” Tony corrects. “Face it, Rogers. This world you made? Just a giant version of this. Just a giant version of the same old, good-old-days, alpha knows best bullshit that’s  _ never _ been true. I know better than to trust you. You’ve shown your true colors a few too many times.”

“No one’s getting hurt!” Steve shouts, hands actually balled into fists. “I wouldn’t want a world…here, alphas treat their omegas right. Things are…right. No one gets hurt, omegas are taken care of. Treated like they deserve, like they’re special, taken care of. And it’s not like…goddammit, Tony, most alphas would want you at home cooking and watching kids. They’d want you to lose the attitude and they’d  _ change _ you. I didn’t touch your company. Didn’t even bond you, since you’re so touchy about it!”

“How  _ generous _ ,” Tony snarls, then pauses to think, doing some quick calculations in his head. 

He can lose an afternoon. “No one’s getting hurt, huh?” Tony asks rhetorically. “Wanna bet?”

Steve hesitates, seemingly a little thrown. “What?”

Tony snaps his fingers and the nanites drag Steve forward. “If you’re being purposefully obtuse, then I need to open your eyes,” he concludes. “Because god knows, there’s never been another person who will tell Captain America when to go fuck himself. So, come with me.”

 

Tony has a dozen or so options of ways he could show Steve that he’s full of shit. None of Tony’s charities seem to exist here, so he can’t drag Steve to the shelter, but he’s sure he can find unhappy and even abused omegas here, no matter what Steve self-righteously says.

If Steve was willing to beat Tony to a pulp in Siberia, then Tony’s pretty sure alphas in Steve’s world would be able to justify a lot “for the greater good.”

Alternatively, Tony could drag up the statistics, that omegas don’t represent in government and medicine and science and education, despite those fields having very real effects on their lives.That more omega schools are open in this world than their own, denying real educations. That only about two percent of omegas manage to get into institutes of higher education, and most of those are driven out. That medical science has ignored several common omega concerns, that they still say heats are sex-driven, that mating bonds are the best way to address that, that the alpha voice is natural and has no ill effects. Steve wold brush it off though. Say it’s the way of it, that alphas have the best intentions, that they love and cherish their omegas and will make decisions in their best interests.

So Tony goes with the most straightforward decision. He drags Steve’s ass to a seemingly empty room by the lab, and begins fiddling with a tablet interface. “Here,” he says after a few moments, releasing the nanites and handing Steve a pair of glasses. “Put these on.”

Steve hesitates. “What are these?”

“BARF, two point oh,” Tony says. “I’ve programmed in some of my memories. You get to experience them as me. Enjoy.”

“Tony, I…”

“This is the problem with you alphas,” Tony says bitterly. “Expect unquestioning trust, but would never give even an iota of it back. It won’t hurt you. Well. Might give you a migraine. But unlikely, considering you’re, you know, the peak of human perfection and don’t get injured like us mere mortals.”

Tony’s broken hand throbs. 

“Put the fucking glasses on, Steve,” Tony says. “See, for five minutes, what it’s like on the other side.”

With hesitant hands, Steve takes the glasses.

 

Tony has to be in the room, has to see it all, but he doesn’t have to pay attention. Doesn’t have to watch the litany of greatest hits. Doesn’t have to watch—to  _ feel _ , Steve is  _ feeling _ it, feeling how Tony felt, the fear, the hatred, the resentment, the panic—the scenes unfold before him.

Tony should probably put a break in between scenes. Prolonged use of BARF is never recommended, and these scenes, psychologically, are brutal.

He lets them run for a little over an hour, without pause, without mercy.

His father, putting him on his knees at eleven, a punishment of humiliation and a show of force, a reminder that, no matter what Tony did, Howard would always have the ultimate hand to play. The soul crushing-gut churning  _ fear _ , his stomach just falling away, realizing that he has no recourse, that this is the ugliness of the world.

Of having a scientific journal shoot down his submission, a paper about DUM-E, genuinely one of the first of his kind, certainly one of the most developed AIs on a planet. Having them be so brutally honest, saying what so many other institutions had meant but not said. “We do not publish omegas.”

A doctor, telling him he’d become irascible and “unmanageable” unless he did the natural thing and let an alpha bond him next heat, that omegas who didn’t become hungrier and hungrier for sex, which explained Tony’s playboy reputation.

An alpha trying to sweet-talk him into mating at his parents’  _ funeral _ , the dirt on the graves still fresh, single white lily still clutched in Tony’s hand. The stem breaking under the pressure of Tony’s grip as the alpha assures Tony he can “give you what you need” and take care of the company, that Tony won’t have to worry about a thing.

The litany of attempts to get his money, his inventions, his brain through the voice, through trickery, through a legal system that allowed him to maintain control only through technicality.

The Ten Rings. Tony closes his eyes and covers his ears through most of that.

BARF flashes through scenes of Tony and Steve, innocent moments, mostly, that nevertheless left Tony slightly unsure, triggered some instinct, landmines Steve never knew or acknowledged. 

Two to go. Tony holds his breath through Siberia. He’s seen it, more than he cares to admit, from his own point of view and from Bucky’s. It doesn’t get easier to feel  _ trapped _ in dead armor, to feel unwanted and sacrificed, to know how utterly betrayed he was, that Steve’s promises were all broken the minute it was for “the greater good.”

The last one begins on Titan, begins with a large, purple hand on his head. Being carried and condescended and cornered and having his ass beaten. The humiliation, the horror, the soul-deep fear.

Tony turns BARF off, and Steve ends up on his knees. “How…How…”

He dry-heaves. Tony feels some minimal amount of pity—it’s a lot, all at once—but doesn’t regret it. Maybe he should have done this years ago. Maybe this is what he should have invented BARF for.

“There, there,” he says unconvincingly. “You’ll feel better in a minute.” Or not. Tony can only find a small part of himself to care, honestly.

“I…I can’t…”

Tony rolls his eyes. “Welcome to my world, Steve. And sure, some of that was  _ bad _ . The Ten Rings are  _ bad guys _ . You’d never let that happen to me, right?  _ Real _ alphas don’t treat omegas like that. But the rest…hell, even Thanos just wanted a  _ compliant _ mate. None of this wouldn't happen in your world.  _ You _ tried to voice me a few hours ago, tried to override my will and empty me out like that. Your whole system is fundamentally flawed; it only works if omegas suffer in silence. And I refuse to. I’ve done it enough.” 

Steve dry heaves again. Tony curses. His speech is probably wasted, Steve in no position to hear it.

He sighs. “I’ll get you some water.”

 

Thirty minutes later, Steve’s had his water and is at least sitting up. “When this is over, I’ll…I’ll help you change things,” Steve promises. His hands shake.

Tony bites his lip, lest he say that the last thing he wants is Steve’s help. “Not as easy as you think,” he says eventually. “Take it from a repentant arm’s dealer; once Pandora lets it out of the box, it’s out.”

“I’ll help,” Steve says stubbornly.

“You don’t even know what that would look like,” Tony scoffs.

“Then  _ explain  _ to me,” Steve says, all but begging. “I still feel…Tony, I still feel it. Hands on my skin. Words in my brain. It’s…it’s crawling, latching on. It’s disgusting and I want it gone.”

“It doesn’t go away,” Tony says. “Sorry.” He huffs a deep exhale. “Steve, I…I have been trying to say for  _ ages _ , and you have  _ never _ listened. It’s not my job to teach you.” 

But Tony knows the next, logical comeback, even if Steve doesn’t make it. If Tony doesn’t teach him, who, exactly, is left who can?

“You know what?” Tony says abruptly. “You know who could teach you? Bucky.”

Steve’s brow furrows. “Bucky? I don’t—”

“Not  _ Barnes _ ,” Tony says disdainfully. “Not your yes-man. I mean  _ Bucky _ , the real thing. The one I fell in love with.” He taps the BARF glasses meaningfully. “He knew how to handle things right.”

“I could…” Steve asks, hesitating.

“I stored my memories on here,” Tony says. “So, you know, I wouldn’t begin to doubt their existence as your pathetic excuse for a facsimile continues to exist.”

He stands, stretches. “I’m getting ready to go to space,” he continues. “You won’t stop me, or, and I am not joking this time, I will kill you. Thor is being…well, a dumbass alpha, and won’t let me go alone. I’m briefing the team in exactly ninety minutes. What you choose to do with that time is up to you.”


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team goes to confront Thanos. Some things, Tony figures, are inevitable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright all, this is the Thanos chapter. He's not as bad as the main fic, but that's honestly mostly due to him having less time. He's still definitely a creepy alpha.
> 
> Despite this being the Thanos chapters, there's not much specific warnings needed for this one. The death of Thanos (spoiler? I guess?) is actually less graphic here than it is in the main body of the fic. People are still assholes to Tony, but not exceptionally so.
> 
> Anyways, only two chapters to go after this one. Please enjoy.

 Convincing the team is hard, and honestly Tony makes Steve do it. They’re not going to believe an omega, anyways. 

Steve is wane and a little shaky, but he gets through the explanation with Tony’s prompting. Which means the whole team follows them to meet Thor in New Mexico once more.

It’s exactly what Tony didn’t want, the entire gang of people he doesn’t trust to spit on him if he was in fire. But these people would follow Steve into hell itself, so it’s not a surprise that they’re  suddenly unshakable leeches.

Tony’s been trying since 2012—in his  own timeline and here—to get people to listen when he says aliens are coming. No dice. And now, five minutes after Steve announces it, there’s suddenly a small army ready to go fight.

Figures.

So, the whole gang's all there when Thor and Loki land in some sort of spaceship.

Clint grabs his bow. “You didn’t say bag of crazy was coming,” he snarls.

Thor steps between Clint and his brother. “Loki is our expert on Thanos and the stones,” He rumbles. “And he is under my protection.”

Loki smirks. Tony tilts his head, considering him. Loki is an omega, and Tony knows that. Yet he also undeniably has shown a lot of agency, and Steve’s world hasn’t taken that away. Loki could be interesting.

Tony ignores the rest, settles himself onto the ship, and begins to plan.

 

Loki plops next to him an hour later. “You have a plan,” he says, half accusing and half admiring.

Tony smirks. “Always do, Reindeer Games.”

“You’ve used that one before, Stark. You’re slipping.”

Tony shrugs. “Bigger fish.”

“You haven’t asked me about Thanos,” Loki says mildly, seemingly disinterested but eyes alert.

“I know him,” Tony says, voice low. “Very, very well. Besides. I figured if you had something to add, you’d bring it up by now.”

“Be careful of him, Stark,” Loki says, voice intent now. “Whatever you may think, whatever you may know…he’s dangerous, and powerful.”

Tony takes in the desperation in his eyes, and nods.

 

They continue to fly, and Tony continues to think things through, visualize the angles, play out the conversations. 

He has the advantage. He’s  been here before, seen this,  _ killed _ this monster before.

He taps his chest, a quick, staccato beat that sends little bursts of electricity along his fingers.

The seat shifts as someone sits next to him, and Tony tenses. “What do you want, Barnes?”

“For whatever reason, Steve refuses to come over here, and we need a plan,” he says without hesitating. “So, whatever you have, spill.”

Tony cracks an eye in Barnes’ direction. “Oh,  _ now _ my input is valuable, now that the threat is on top of us? Noted.” He snorts. “Don’t worry your pretty little head about it. I’ve got this.”

“You can’t do this alone, Stark,” Barnes says.

Tony actually laughs outright at that. Can’t do it alone. Good one.

Barnes looks at him like he’s crazy, which probably is a sensible enough reaction to Tony’s unending laughter.

“Look, Barnes,” Tony says after collecting himself, “I know what I’m doing. But I’ll tell you what. If I give the signal, you shoot him through the eye. Not before.”

Barnes blinks. “What signal?”

“Oh, you know. Dying. Death. Death-like symptoms. You’ll know it when you see it,” Tony says airily.

Barnes actually growls a bit, low but permeating the area. “Stark, don’t joke.”

“Not joking, Barnes. I’m telling you, let me handle it. If I die, then take a shot. It won’t do much good, but you can try.” Tony’s pretty sure he’s got this. Pretty sure. 

The bottom line is, Thanos is waiting for a straight up attack. He’s looking for a shot or a punch or a knife. He has two infinity stones, Tony’s pretty sure, and they have none, unless you count the power clinging to Tony, but Tony’s pretty sure he can’t be aimed like a weapon. Thanos has the advantage over them in any conventional category. 

But Tony knows from experience that Thanos is distracted by his dick. By his alpha ego.

“Stark, you can’t be so selfish. Or an idiot like this. Accept help.”

“Thanos is looking for an attack, and if you idiots bungle our one shot, I will personally punt you all into the sun,” Tony says as evenly as he can. “So go polish your guns, or whatever, but stay out of my way until it’s time.”

Barnes growls again, but leaves Tony alone.

 

Loki finds him one more time. “You reek of it, you know,” he says conversationally.

“Showers are in short supply on your magic spaceship,” Tony replies. “What, exactly, do I reek of?”

“Magic,” he says. “Every inch of you…Reeks of it.”

“Bite your damn tongue,” Tony says sharply. “I’m a man of science, here.”

“A man of science infected by magic,” Loki says. “The stones, Stark. They cling to you, tying themselves to you. Space, time, mind, and soul. All of them clinging to your skin.” 

Tony shrugs. “I’ve heard. From you, no less. It’s a…curse.”

“I’d say,” Loki says. “Thanos can smell them, you know. Like a bloodhound. He’ll track you across the universe for those stones. And he’ll either use you, or eliminate you.”

Tony has figured as much.

Loki studies him carefully. “But you already knew that. You think, somehow, you have the upper hand? He won’t hesitate to go through you.”

“I  _ know _ I have the upper hand,” Tony says. He looks Loki over. “And he will. Hesitate. Not much, but…enough. He wants the stones, and he wants me. I’ve seen it. What I want to know is, why didn’t he go for you? I know his type. You could’ve been it.”

Loki blinks, brow furrowed. “How do you…I lost,” he says, abruptly. “I lost the war, and I was no longer interesting. How do you know this? You haven’t met Thanos.”

“Thanos has been inside my head since 2012,” Tony says evasively. “And I’ve been in his.”

“I don’t…”

“I know how to kill him,” Tony says. “I have a plan. Don’t worry. But if I die…if he kills me. If he somehow manages to get the power from me. It’s your job to make sure he doesn’t close his fist.”

Loki swallows, nods, and gets up to leave.

 

When they land, Tony steps out and almost immediately tries to go right back in.

“Where the fuck are we?” He snarls, turning to Thor, who looks to Loki, who shrugs.

“Thanos dreamt of this world,” Loki says evenly. “Frequently. It seemed as good a place as any, without going straight to him.”

Tony shives. He knows this world, all right, with the hills and rocks and, so far unseen, weird deer creatures. That hill over there. He knows it.

He killed Thanos there once before.

“There,” he says, jerking his chin. “I’m headed there. Don’t get in my way.”

 

The top of the hill is a mess of deja vu, and Tony gets the shakes, gets the sudden urge to shoot down that damn tree.

Barnes climbs up it immediately, making himself a perch. He’s nearly invisible after a few moments, and Tony only sees him because he knows that he’s there.

Loki makes himself invisible. The others fade into the trees.

It might fool an idiot. Thanos isn’t an idiot, which will be a problem.

Still, they’re not going to wait back at the ship, so Tony deals with it.

_ Come find me, motherfucker, _ he thinks.  _ I’ve been waiting for years now. Come get me _ .

 

He doesn’t have to wait too long. Just as he’s getting a little bored, a little itchy for something to do, another ship lands. Tony holds his breath until Thanos steps off.

Thanos looks around, taking in the atmosphere before his eyes land on Tony. “Tony Stark,” he rumbles. “I know you.”

Tony clenches and then consciously unclenches his fist. “Do you?”

Thanos smiles. “The world killer. Word is, on your planet, they call you the Merchant of Death.”

“They call me an Avenger, too,” Tony says mildly. “Because I avenge my people.”

“I bear no ill will,” Thanos rumbles. “You did a remarkable thing.” He stares at Tony intently. “You have the stones.”  
“I _am_ the stones,” Tony corrects. “They are me and I’m them. Sorry, Thanos. Nothing for you to grab here.”

“I don’t know about that,” Thanos says. His eyes rake over Tony. “I see a valuable enough prize.”

The tension around them ratchets up, and Tony just prays that no one gives themselves away. “I suppose so,” Tony says, as neutrally as he can. “You can’t get their power from me, though. They’re  _ inside _ me.”

As much as he’s left it wide open, Tony hopes Thanos has more class than to use the  _ I could be inside you too _ line.

Thanos tilts his head, observing him. “Two halves of a whole,” Thanos murmurs. “I knew we were, but this proves it. One cannot last without the other; I have two stones, you have three. We are meant for each other, little omega.”

“Are we?” Tony asks, challenging, tilting his head. “You think you can handle this?”

“I  _ know, _ ” Thanos says, voice soft but carrying, “that you’ve been looking for someone to handle you. World-destroyer, little omega. Need an alpha who can keep pace with you.”

This is familiar ground, at least. Tony remembers this conversation.

“Many have tried.”

“I will succeed.”

Tony tilts his head, considering his next move; but at the end of the day, it’s not that complicated. “Prove it,” he challenges, smirk firmly in place.

Thanos takes three bounding steps forward, placing him right in front of Tony. Tony takes deep breaths, forces himself not to react, not to try to shoot the Titan in the head.

“Why else would you come to me?” Thanos says, stroking Tony’s face with his shovel-like hand.

“Like summons like,” Tony says blithely.

Thanos chuckles. “True enough, little omega. Your power…you say it’s inside of you?” Thanos asks, eyes moving fast, and Tony’s sure Thanos is debating whether or not he’ll have to kill Tony. “No way to remove it?”

“None,” Tony says. “It lives and dies with me.” That may be true, or it may be complete horse shit; right now, Tony’s letting his mouth, his memory, run ahead of him, keeping him afloat in this mess.

Either way, the power in his chest—the one he doesn’t like to think of as magic, considering magic is a load of bullshit—seems to glow just a tad warmer.

Tony can smell Thanos’ indecision, his hesitation. He tamps down his annoyance, his revulsion, and decides to move things along. He bites his thumb, as if considering. 

“Are you my alpha?” He asks after a moment.

“I will be,” Thanos rumbles.

Tony smiles slowly, a careful, calculated move that  _ hurts _ . “Then we’re square. Alpha and omega. Two halves of a whole. Together, we have the pieces.”

Thanos chuckles. “World-destroyer,” he says fondly. “What changed your mind?” He studies Tony closely. “You’ve been frightened of me, little omega. Wary.”

“Some things are inevitable,” Tony says softly. His eyes slip closed, for just a moment. It’s true enough, even if Thanos can’t understand it yet. Some things are inevitable. Like this moment, here. Him and Thanos, Thanos in him.

Strange saw it. Strange traded the Time Stone for it, in Tony’s world. It’s always going to be Tony, whatever else might get in the way.

Thanos cups the back of Tony’s neck with a firm hand, dragging him forward a bit. “I’m glad, little omega,” he rumbles. “Glad you realized it. Together, we shall fix the universe, and I’ll show you how a real alpha and omega live.” His other hand touches Tony’s chest; Tony has to fight not to shoot or scream or collapse. It’s not an arc reactor, it doesn’t keep him  _ alive _ , but it’s essentially his last line of defense.

“We have one more stop to make,” Thanos says. “One more stone stands in our way. We must find my wayward daughter, and then we can be on our way.”

Tony pulls away slightly, before he screams. “Yeah, we don’t need to do that.”

“I’ll handle my daughter. You don’t have to do anything, my sweet. Let me take care of things.”

Tony wiggles a little more. “No, I mean…We don’t need to. I’ve already found the Soul Stone.”

Thanos starts, a move which unfortunately means he clutches Tony tighter to him. “Impossible.”

“You saying I couldn’t?” Tony challenges. “I destroyed an alien race. I  _ am _ the infinity stones. Are you telling me I couldn’t?” He tilts his chin up, eyes sharp.

“How did you know where to find it?” Thanos challenges in turn.

“It’s on Voramir,” Tony says. “Guarded by an alien figure, guarded by the need for a sacrifice. Someone you love, a piece of your soul, in exchange for the stone. Sound right with what you know?”

“Impossible,” Thanos says again, voice soft and almost wondering. “I…little omega, I am more than impressed with you. You truly found it?”

“Ask the alpha who  _ thought _ he was my alpha,” Tony says blithely. It’s not entirely a lie, even if Thanos thinks that Tony threw Steve off the edge of a cliff. Steve knows. Steve is the only one who  _ would _ know.

“Ruthless,” Thanos says, like it’s a compliment. “I knew, from the moment you sprang into my awareness, that you were my match. My other half, the one who could match me, who I could own but not break.”

Tony decides not to touch that. “So, are we doing this?” He asks. “Your whole thing, fixing the world? Alpha and omega, needs both of us? Are we doing it?”

Tony doesn’t have superhuman hearing. Honestly, after battles and hard living and loud music, he probably doesn’t even have regular human hearing. He still swears he hears weapons drawn around them.

He doesn’t know where exactly anyone is except Barnes. He looks up at the tree, not able to see the man but knowing he’s there. He shakes his head infinitismely, just enough.

No one moves, and Tony lets out a breath. Then he focuses on himself, focuses on what he’s projecting.

_ Relax _ , he thinks,  _ just an omega, here. Your wildest dream.  _

Thanos comes closer and clasps Tony’s hands in his gauntlet-ed hand. The metal is unforgiving and the grip harsh, but Tony doesn’t react. 

“Ready, my omega?” Thanos whispers, breath hot and heavy against Tony’s ear. Tony suppresses his shudder. “We’ll do this together, and then we’ll claim this planet as our own. Right before I claim you.”

Tony doesn’t point out the multiple levels of idiocy in that statement—using the stones might well kill him, or claiming a planet for just two people when you’re specifically fighting overpopulation and resource scarcity is absurd, or that Tony hasn’t even really agreed to being Thanos’ mate, nor been consulted—but he does squeeze Thanos’ hand. “Let’s do this,” he agrees.

“The fates clearly favored me, if they made me you,” Thanos says, somehow crowding impossibly closer.

Tony swallows. “We doing this or not?”

“On my count, then,” Thanos says. “Three, two…one.”

 

The pain is more blinding than the light, but the light itself is plenty blinding. Tony almost doubles over, struggling to hold onto Thanos’ gross hand.

Everything is spinning. Even without being able to see, Tony can tell. The two of them, wrapped up in a vortex of white light, spin around, clutched together in some parody of a lover’s hold that is more death match than anything else.

The thing about Tony is that he’s not as arrogant as everyone thinks, but he can pretend with the best of them. Because, fuck, no one else would think they could go head to head with the Mad Titan and walk away victorious, but here Tony is, for the second time, determined to bring the monster down by his hand.

_ I’m stronger _ , Tony thinks desperately.  _ I have more stones. I’ve done this before. I know what’s going to happen. I have the upper hand. _

If he repeats it enough, he almost believes it. It’s his mantra.

He knows the stones like mantras, that they latch onto weakness, insecurity. He repeats it over and over again.

“Thanos,” he calls, voice lost in the swirling whirlwind, but somehow knowing Thanos can hear him regardless. “Do you really want to do this? I could disappear, when it’s done. Fifty percent of life gone.”

Thanos grunts. “Sacrifices…need to be made…” he rumbles. But there’s the slightest catch in his voice.

“You worked hard to build your family,” Tony continues. “Your children, half of them wiped out, gone, forever. Is that what you really want?”

“Soldiers,” Thanos grunts. “They know…they’ve accepted…”

“That they’re father might sacrifice their lives for his cause,” Tony finishes. “Okay, then. Just checking.”

He doesn’t think he imagined the little bit of uncertainty, there. Just what the stones need to dig their teeth—metaphorically speaking, of course—into.

_ End him _ . Tony adapts his mantra, ready for this to end. The pain, blistering and cruel, is tearing him apart. Tony doesn’t know if his skin is actually ripping from his body, but it certainly feels like that.

It feels like being battered by the winds, shaken about, tugged back and forth as the stones war between them. Tony grits his teeth and holds on.

“My omega, what are you doing?” Thanos asks, the first edges of panic creeping into his voice.

“Not yours,” Tony says. “Not anyone’s. Your mistake, though.”

He grips Thanos’ hand a little tighter, digs his fingers in, gets them firmly on the two stones actually in Thanos’ possession, and  _ pushes _ .

 

When Tony comes to, it’s to the feeling that his body is on fire. Steve is hovering over him, but Tony doesn’t have the energy to rebuff him. 

“Tony, I…how are you feeling?” Steve asks.

Tony doesn’t deign to respond to that. “Is he dead?”

“Yeah,” Steve says. “You…you did it.”

Tony doesn’t take his word for it. He uses the last of his strength to scramble around, to get a view of Thanos.

The Mad Titan is dead, a scorching hole through center mass, still smoking in the cool air. Tony’s eyes travel to his hand. The gauntlet is smoking, blackened and cracked. The stones are gone, shattered.

Tony flexes his hand, reaches up with shaking fingers to tap at his chest. “Good. I…good.”

Nanite casing still there. Still some strange surge of power when he touches it. Nothing noticeable, just ever-present. A little static shock.

Somehow, Tony always gets the feeling that it’s  _ affectionate _ .

It’s stronger than before, a little more bite, a little more insistent.

“The stones broke,” Steve continues.

“Yes, Stark,” Loki says, and Tony can’t turn his head to look at him, but he feels the man close by. “They’ve latched onto you, just as the others, as I’m sure you already felt.”

Steve’s eyes latch onto Loki, then back to Tony. “What does that mean?” He demands.

“Let the omega rest, Steve,” Thor chides. “Scold him later. Look at him.”

“It means,” Tony says, cutting right over Thor’s bullshit, as well-meaning as it might be, “that the power of the stones needs something to latch onto. Since the physical stones are gone, since I’ve been the one destroying them, since I’d already been touched by the soul stone—it’s me.”

“Great,” Clint mutters. “Just what we need. Stark brimming with power.”

“You’re lucky it  _ is _ him,” Loki snaps. “Not many mortals refuse power as readily as Stark does.”

Maximoff snorts. “Stark? Refuse power? Please. He’s been hungry for power since the day he was born, stealing and tricking and hurting people to get it.” 

“Then you’re blind,” Loki says quietly. “But I won’t argue with you now. Not while Stark needs us.”

Tony groans. “Don’t need anyone,” he says. “Need a good night’s sleep.”

“You need medical care, Tony,” Steve says. “You, uh. You look….”

“Old,” Natasha finishes grimly.

“Well, thanks for noticing, I  _ am _ a little on the older side,”  Tony returns.

Steve takes a shaky breath. “Tony, it’s…it’s more than that. The stones, they, uh…”

“Nothing plastic surgery can’t fix,” Clint says. “It’ll be fine, Steve. Stark’ll be pretty enough for you. Might be an improvement.”

“Could you not talk about him like that,” Steve says, rounding on Clint. “Not when…he just saved us all.”

Tony manages a small, broken smile. “You reap what you sow, Captain,” he says. “Pandora can’t put it back in the box. This is what you asked for.” He tries to sit up, groans, and lies back down. “Guess I’m gonna need help back to the ship.”

 

Barnes ends up carrying Tony, swooping in without any arguments from anyone. He lays him down inside the ship, on one of the little bunks, and Tony, now at a better angle to see, watches the faces crowd around him.

“Well, this is nice, but I think I need to sleep,” Tony says. The weariness is beat into his bones, a deep ache that’s dragging him under, and for once, he thinks he’ll follow it instead of kick and scream. 

“Yes, sleep,” Thor encourages. “We’ll have you back to Earth, where you can be looked after, in no time.”

Tony’s suddenly hit with the realization. “No,” he says, eyes shooting open. “No, not Earth. Not yet. One more—one more stone.”

Loki frowns. “There are six stones, and there are six power signatures mixing into your being.”

“The soul stone, it still—it still exists,” Tony says. “Right where it’s supposed to be.”

Tony chances a look at Steve. His face pales.

“It’s…it’s pretty well protected,” Steve says feebly. “No one…”

“No one?” Tony asks, eyebrow raised. “Someone will. It needs to be destroyed. Temptation removed.”

Eyes watch the two of them like a tennis match, back and forth. Tony takes a look around. Most of them are confused. Some of them are doing the calculations, and no doubt coming up short.

“Where are we going, then?” Thor says. Clint snorts, no doubt about to open his mouth and say how he’s not taking direction from Tony, but Tony cuts him off.

“Voramir,” he says. “We’re going to Voramir. Now, if you don’t mind. I need some rest.”


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony pursues the soul stone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all!
> 
> Here it is, the penultimate chapter! Sorry it's so late; I went back to work today after the break.
> 
> Warnings: Tony talks a lot about dying and being okay with it, and enacts a plan that probably looks suicidal. This fic does not end with him dead, so I'll tell you that. As always, people--even people Tony cares about--are assholes to him.
> 
> Enjoy.

When Tony wakes up—not too long later, there’s a lot of curious stares and furious whispers around him—he’s surprised to see that Thor is the one sitting by his bedside. 

“Tony, good to see you alive and well,” Thor says, smiling softly. “How are you feeling?”

It’s a good enough question. Tony stretches experimentally. “Like I got hit by a truck,” he announces.

“Yes, I could understand that,” Thor nods. “Well. I’ve told Loki to look into spells that could get you back on your feet. Steve is worried about you.”

Tony raises an eyebrow but bites his lip to refrain from comment. “Right,” he says slowly. “And, in the meantime?”

“I’m sure Steve will look after his mate just fine,” Thor says. “Even after your deception.”

Tony can’t bite his tongue anymore. “Not my mate, and I saved the fucking universe, so thanks for that.”

“Mhm,” Thor says placatingly. “And yet you didn’t let your mate in fully.” He shakes his head. “Tony. You need to trust him if this is going to work.”

Tony wants to scream, wants to point out that he neither trusts him nor wants to make it work, but holds his tongue. “How close are we to Voramir?” He asks.

“Two days or so,” Thor says. “We’re not quite sure. Neither Loki nor I have ever been there before.”

Tony nods. “Speaking of. I want him. Send him in.”

Thor’s brow furrows. “Who, Loki?”

“Yes, Loki. Who else?”

“I was led to believe that you humans were not fond of him. Perhaps you’d prefer your mate. I’m sure he’d be a great comfort, given everything…”

“Yeah, no can do. I’m looking for Loki,” Tony says. “Now.”

“My ears are burning,” Loki says, approaching the cot. “Am I being summoned?”

Thor backs off, muttering something about leaving omegas to gossip. Tony rolls his eyes hard enough that them getting stuck is a legitimate concern, before turning to Loki, who is also rolling his eyes.

Loki sits down on the edge of the narrow cot, by Tony’s feet so they can look at each other.

“Alright, give it to me straight,” Tony says, letting as much theatrical dramatics into his voice as possible, given that he’s still slightly short of breath, “How bad do I look?”

Loki manages a bit of a smile. “More lined, a little more grey. As the archer so adroitly put it, nothing human cosmetics can’t change. My worry is your heart.”

“What about my heart?” Tony asks, tapping once more at his sternum.

“It stopped for a moment, after…well, after,” Loki says. “And it’s been weak ever since. Struggling to pump.”

Tony sighs and gestures to his nanite casing. “This is mostly cosmetic,” he says, tapping for emphasis. “It holds the nanites for my suit, but it’s not like the one you saw in New York. That one kept my heart pumping. Didn’t need it anymore, so I had it removed.” He sighs. “Guess I’m putting it back in, once we reach Earth.”

“It will be necessary,” Loki agrees. “Unless you have a magical alternative.”

“No spells that you know?” Tony checks, although he’s not really sure he’s ready to let Loki perform magic on him.

“Nothing that doesn’t require a constant infusion of magic,” Loki says, and Tony might be imagining it, but he seems apologetic. “Earthly magic users can heal devastating injuries. But they do it through channelling all their magic, at every moment of every day, through their injury. It’s not sustainable.”

“Arc reactor it is,”  Tony says, pseudo-cheerfully. “Fine. I’ll…I’ll start working on that.” He closes his eyes, sees the plans in his head.

But he has more urgent matters to attend to. “Have you ever heard of the Guardians of the Galaxy?” Tony asks.

“Should I have?”

“Let me try again,” Tony poses. “You know who Gamora is?”

“I…that name might ring a bell,” Loki hedges.

“Yeah, well, she abandoned her Dad a while back and runs with a new crew. Mercenaries, doing the right thing for cash. I need you to get into contact with them. I have some jobs for them.”

“What kind of jobs?” Loki asks, suspiciously.

“Good ones. I need some people retrieved, a revolution started. And I know I don’t have any money that would interest them, but if you can work out conversion, then I’m happy to pay whatever they want.”

Loki’s eyes narrow. “And why would I do this for you?”

“Because I just killed Thanos?” Tony hazards. “Think that’s something you’d be invested in.”

“You didn’t do it for me,” Loki responds.

“What do you want, Loki?” Tony asks. 

“A way out. Off of Asgard. At this point, after my last…indiscretion…they’re not going to let it continue. I’m relatively positive Thor is going to insist on finding me an alpha, and then where will I be?”

Tony thinks about it. “I mean, sure. I have like twelve billion dollars, most of which I can access with only a little government pushback. I’ll set you up on Earth in style as long as you promise not to kill anyone or anything. Or take over any governments. But, how ‘bout, bigger picture. These people have always been assholes about omegas, but they’re a little too obstinate. I can fix that.”

Loki’s smile is slow. “Tony Stark. I didn’t think you were one to influence people’s minds.”

Tony shakes his head. “Don’t be dense. I know you’ve figured it out. The others have been trying. And failing. But I know you have.”

“You’ve done this before,” Loki says.

“Well, not  _ this _ . This bit is new. But yeah. In my timeline, I drove a knife through Thanos’ throat when he tried to rape me. Then I stole the stones. Only the soul stone is a bitch and a half, and I conned Steve into killing me to get it.”

Loki raises an eyebrow. “Personally, I would have killed him. He clearly butchered  _ something _ . I trust you to get the job done.”

A ghost of a smile appears on Tony’s face. “Yeah, well. The soul stone demands the sacrifice of someone you love. I don’t love him. He loved me. I thought, at the very least, he could follow directions.”

“An alpha following directions? How novel,” Loki drawls.

“Yeah, I see my mistake now. Clearly. He couldn’t just  _ fix _ the mess Thanos made. Instead, he sent us back in time. And imposed some of his  _ darker _ desires on the world. Honestly, compared to a lot of alphas I’ve met, he’s pretty tame. But in my timeline, they weren’t this bad. Bad, yes. But not this…stubborn. Reason and logic worked. It’s like, now, in this timeline, the world is just lined up to knock me back into the place Steve thinks—thought? He has maybe had a change of heart, we’ll see—thinks I should be in. And I think—“

Loki’s eyebrows raise. “You think that you can change that. That you can use the stones to undo the damage Rogers did.”

Tony takes a deep breath. “Most of the world was against me in my timeline. Some more viciously than others. But I had…I had Rhodey, and Pepper, and Happy, and Vision, and Bucky, no questions asked. They never made me feel…now, it’s different. Each of them thinks Steve’s got the right idea and I’m a stubborn omega who’s causing problems and needs to be put in my place. I’d like to change that.”

“It could kill you,” Loki says, slowly. “It might…your heart is already weak, Stark. It could kill you.”

Tony shrugs. “Then I die. I am not exaggerating, not even one iota, when I say I cannot live in the world like this anymore. And it wouldn’t be bad. The power of the stones, they’ll die with me, right? So that’ll be gone. No one can use it anymore.”

Loki just stares at Tony for a minute, before nodding decisively. “You had a job for me,” he says.

“Yeah. When we finish…whatever they hell we’re calling this…I need you to find the Guardians of the Galaxy. Gamora’s crew. Tell them you have two jobs for them.”

“Two?”

“Two,” Tony confirms. “The first. They need to go to a place called Sakaar. Where the Grandmaster rules. And they need to destabilize the government.”

Loki’s eyebrow raises. “Destabilizing governments of places I’ve never been. Interesting.”

“Tell them that they’re looking for a big green guy. You know the one,” Tony says, grinning at Loki’s wince. “And they’re gonna bring him back to me.”

“How did the monster  _ possibly _ end up there?” Loki demands.

Tony shrugs. “Beats me. Never been. Just know that, when he came back to us on my timeline, that’s where he was. Only that’s never gonna happen, because I saved your father’s life.”

“What does  _ Odin _ have to do with it?”

“He dies, your sister escapes. You and Thor end up there. Havoc, destruction. I don’t know. I got the three minute highlights reel, and the world was kinda ending at the time.”

“Fine. What’s the second job?”

“I’m looking for someone who calls herself Captain Marvel, aka Colonel Carol Danvers. No idea where she is, no idea what she’s been up to. But I’m looking for her.”

“Any useful information?”

“None,” Tony says, shrugging. “I’m sure they’ll think of something.”

Loki opens his mouth to respond. Thor calls from the doorway, cutting him off. “Loki. Leave Tony alone. Steve is looking for him.”

Loki shoots him a commiserating look, but obediently enough backs off.

 

“What’s up with Loki?” Steve asks, sitting in the spot the god just vacated.

“He’s offering to help me out,” Tony says. 

Steve frowns. “Careful, there. We know what he’s like.”

“I know he’s an omega trying fucking hard not to be trapped by Asgardian ways,” Tony responds. “I’ve offered him an out. In exchange for a job.”

“What kind of job?”

“Bruce. And Carol. And the Guardians of the Galaxy, too, I guess,” Tony says. “Making sure that changing the timeline doesn’t mean anyone gets lost. All the pieces are still on the board.”

“Threat’s over, Tony,” Steve says, gently. “It’s been taken care of.”

“Let’s hope so,” Tony says tiredly. “But either way, these people were supposed to get pulled in. And Bruce, at least, I’m not leaving to fight in a gladiator contest for some douche king’s sport.”

“Okay, I see your point,” Steve concedes. “Tony, we need to talk about what’s going to happen after this.”

Tony raises an eyebrow. “After I eliminate the single greatest threat to the universe? I thought you already made a decision. You were going to fix what you broke.”

“And what about…us?”

Tony snorts. “What us, Rogers?”

“Tony.”

“There is no us,” he says sharply. “There won’t ever be an us, and you’re never going to say or imply that there will be again.” He shakes his head. “Steve, you’ve always been stuck in…in some fantasy past. Fantasies about Peggy, about my dad, about the good old days of war. About Bucky. About some fantasy alpha and omega dynamic. And now, about us. Let the past go, for once in your life, Rogers. It’s not coming back.”

“But if I…”

“Never,” Tony says firmly. He closes his eyes and turns away. “Sooner you accept it the happier you’ll be, Steve. Now. I need my strength, so leave me alone.”

 

“Wake up.”

Tony groans, but rolls over so he can look at whoever woke him up. 

It’s Barnes, staring at him contemplatively.

“What?” Tony groans.

“We’re here,” he says. “You, uh, okay? To move?” He fidgets with his hands. “We can go without you, you know.”

Tony snorts, then forces himself to a sitting position. It makes him short of breath, but it’s nothing he can’t manage.

“No, Barnes,” he says as soon as he gets his breath back. “I would think you’d’ve learned by now. You literally can’t do this without me.”

Barnes tilts his head. “Thought so. You need help up?”

Tony grits his teeth, because the answer is, honestly,  _ yes _ , but he doesn’t want to admit it. Not to Barnes, not to any of these guys. Not to people who see any moment of weakness as an indictment of his entire dynamic.

“Yes,” he admits after a moment, because honestly sitting upright is enough of a task for him. 

Barnes, to his credit, doesn’t lord it over Tony or even say anything, just wraps an arm around him to help him upright, then to support him as they move out of the ship.

The terrain isn’t easily navigable, but Barnes doesn’t say anything as they move through, Tony directing them.

At the top is, as Tony expected, the Red Skull. Barnes nearly drops Tony, who thankfully anticipated it and finds his footing.

“Steve!”

“I know, Buck.”

“But…”

“If this works, you can kill him,” Tony says. “No need for him anymore, really.”

Tony hobbles to the edge, slow and careful. It really is hard to breathe. The Red Skull seems to follow him.

Tony can hear Barnes arguing it out with Steve, but mostly tunes it out.

“It requires a sacrifice,” Red Skull hisses. “A sacrifice few would make.”

Tony laughs, short and abruptly cut off when he starts hacking. “Too late,” he manages a few moments later. “Sacrifice made. I  _ am _ the Soul Stone. The Soul Stone is me. I’m here to reclaim…well, my soul, I guess,” Tony says, realizing it’s probably true, realizing how morbid it sounds.

He stretches a hand out over the edge, like he’s waiting for someone to deposit something in it. 

The universe rewards him. It seems to materialize out of nothing—something Tony’s brain firmly rejects, because the conservation of mass still exists, thank you—and it solidifies slowly, orange particles pulling together, beams of light becoming a solid mass.

It hums pleasantly, vibrating in his hand, and if Tony was one to assign sentiance to random objects, he would say that it was happy to see him.

Of course, being an infinity stone—the  _ last _ infinity stone—maybe it is.

“Hello, there,” Tony murmurs.

“Humans cannot just  _ hold _ the stones,” The Red Skull hisses.

Tony smirks. “Don’t know if I really qualify as human anymore, then. And if you think this is impressive, you’re gonna love what I do next.”

Tony feels like he’s having an out of body experience, like he’s not entirely driving this ship. Strangely, it’s only mildly frightening. Yes, he’s worried, but also some part of him is reassured. The power of the stones, which lap at him like a gentle caress, won’t hurt him.

For some reason, the stones, which have set out to trick is mislay others, want to take care of him.

Or maybe it’s a giant trick. Tony’s thought it through, but he’s not arrogant enough to think that he’s smarter than powers older than the universe itself. Maybe they’re lulling him into a false sense of security, maybe he’s playing right into their tricky little hands.

But, somehow, Tony doesn’t think so. Tony isn’t one to trust gut feelings, but it just  _ feels _ true. It  _ feels _ like the stones want Tony to destroy them, that they don’t want to be misused like Thanos, or even Steve.

Tony probably shouldn’t be the one to judge. He’s been misled and tricked before, arguably more than most. But Tony’s going to try it anyways. Tony’s going to trust this weird experience, this strange, gentle feeling guiding his hand.

So he closes his hand and  _ squeezes _ .

Light emanates from his hand, red and blue and purple and green and yellow sparking around, and heat blossoms.

The stone dissolves like so much dust, breaking easily under his grip and turning to powder as it slips through his fingers before fading away to nothingness.

Once it’s dissolved, Tony gets a warm, glowing feeling throughout his entire body, like he’s slightly intoxicated but not drunk yet, like he’s received the best news of his life.

Like when Bucky fucked him all soft and slow and held him in the afterglow, Tony tries not to think and fails.

“Alright,” he says, looking from his hand to Barnes and Steve, then back to his hand, “It’s taken care of. You can kill him now.”

Tony doesn’t feel anything as they advance on the Red Skull. He wouldn’t anyways—the man is a Nazi, for Gods’ sake—but he’s too distracted by that warm, pulsating glow seemingly emanating from inside his chest.

 

When it’s taken care of, Tony’s tapping his fingers against his chest. It’s like a circuit connecting every time he does, little sparks travelling back and forth. It makes his hair stand on end.

“Right,” Tony says slowly, turning in a little half-circle, half moving back towards the crowd then stopping, listlessly swaying back and forth. “Time to…finish this, I guess.”

Everyone freezes. “What exactly does that mean?” Natasha asks, voice very carefully neutral.

Tony shrugs. “What it sounds like.” He turns so he’s looking at Steve. “There is one way for Pandora to shove it back in the box, Rogers.” He taps his chest.

Steve’s face is paler than normal. He shakes his head. “Tony. No.”

“Tony, yes. You don’t tell me what to do,” Tony says, all petulance and anger but coming out frighteningly calm.

“Tony, please, I…”

“That could kill you, Stark,” Loki reminds him, voice low. 

Tony shrugs. “Yeah, thought about that. Probably will.”

“And you’re…okay with that?” Thor demands. But he’s looking at Steve, not Tony.

Tony grits his teeth. “Yeah, you know what? I am.”

Clint scoffs. “Stark, stop with the dramatics.”

“What do you even need to do, anyways?” Natasha says, all pseudo-rationality and calm tones. “Tony, the stones are dealt with. If you start using them, you’re as bad as Thanos.”

“I’m  _ undoing _ something,” Tony grits out.

“What?” Natasha probes.

“Ask Steve,” Tony challenges. “Go ahead, ask him. Steve, tell them what you did.” Silence. Steve’s mouth opens, but nothing comes out. “Thought so,” Tony snorts. “Well, it won’t matter, because, as always, I’m walking five feet behind you, cleaning up your messes.”

“Tony,” Steve pleads. “Tony, don’t—is it really that bad? That bad you’d…do this?”

“What, die?” Tony says. He shrugs. “It’s not the first thing I’ve volunteered to die for, Cap. Sure, I’ll do it.”

“Tony, c’mon,” Steve says desperately. “It’s not…it’s not that bad. No one’s getting hurt, not  _ really _ , and what is happening…We can  _ fix _ this, I said I’d fix it, c’mon—”

“You  _ can’t _ fix it,” Tony interrupts. “Any more than Thanos could just make people come back from the dead when he enacted his plan. Once it’s done, it’s done, and it takes an equal and opposite force to undo it. Steve’s stupidity, meet an equal and opposite force,” Tony says, gesturing to himself, tapping against his chest.

“It’s so bad?” Steve says, eyes and scent equally desperate.

“It is,” Tony says firmly. “It is, because it’s a problem that literally cannot be fixed. I can either live to fight it, fruitlessly, because you’ve forced the world into some box, or I can die and at least give people a fighting chance.”

“Steve, what is he talking about?” Barnes asks, panic creeping into his voice, eyes flashing back and forth between Steve and Tony. “What is he saying? Put a stop to this—stop him. Use the voice, do  _ something _ .”

Tony’s lip curls. “That should be enough proof for you. The Bucky  _ I _ know would  _ never _ advocate for the voice.  _ You _ did that to him, Steve. You created that, made this problem. And now I have to fix it.”

“What’s he talking about, Steve?” Barnes demands, now starting to pace slightly, seemingly overwhelmed, eyes flashing as he looks between Tony and Steve.

Tony doesn’t let Steve get an answer in. “I’m going to fix what you broke, and you know what? If I die trying, then I die trying.”

Tony doesn’t give them any more chance to argue with him. He settles his hand firmly on the arc reactor, connecting hand to chest, and closes his eyes.

 

The light is blinding, but Tony’s honestly used to that now. What he’s not used to is feeling like his skin is on fire, like all that light is pouring out from the inside. It pricks and burns across his skin, light pouring out of him, fire surrounding him.

Tony feels in control, though. The stones aren’t running the show; he is. Of course, this could be just their own illusion, lulling him into a false sense of security. But if it is, he’s in this now. The only way out is through.

The words need to be careful. He can’t ask them to undo what Steve did, because they very well might end up stuck back on Voramir, Thanos dead but half the universe too, unable to do anything but start all over again, and while Tony hopes Steve would learn his lesson and use the stones appropriately this time, Tony also won’t trust him again.

So Tony tries to single out the stones he really needs, but the lights and colors swirl around him too fast for even him to track. He takes a deep, haggard breath, and closes his eyes.

Once he does, it’s like he can feel it, like the power of the stones have distinct feelings—emotions, maybe—that he can track, and he’s almost able to instantly latch onto the ones he wants. 

He casts aside the time stone, and space. Keeps a loose hold on reality and power, having them in reserve. Grabs tight to mind and soul, takes another deep breath, and, on the exhale,  _ squeezes _ .

 

“—Stark? Stark? What the fuck was that? What the fuck did you do? Stark, what’s happening? Stark?”

Tony blearily opens his eyes, rolls slightly from where he is on the ground. He can’t breathe. His chest feels like it’s ripping apart, his eyes can barely stay opened. He can’t focus, doesn’t know who’s shouting at him.

He closes his eyes. If this is it, this is it. He’s done what he’s meant to do.

But, in one last dose of pettiness, he manages a few words. “Ask Steve,” he says, then promptly nearly passes out from the pain.

All in all, not great as last words go, but, considering the circumstances, Tony thinks he did okay.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all comes to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all--
> 
> Sorry this is so late. Weird day.
> 
> This is the final chapter for Survivor's Guilt. It's my "things aren't the worst they could be but it's still definitely not happy or really in the range of happy" ending.
> 
> Warnings for mention of surgery, and talks about death, and grief and conversations about loss.
> 
> Thank you all for sticking out this weird journey with me.

Tony wakes up. That in itself is a strange surprise.

Once he takes that into account, the ragged breathing, chest pain, and fuzzy vision isn’t as much of a surprise, really. 

Neither is being so damn  _ cold _ .

“What the fuck?” He manages to slur.

There’s rustling around him. “Stark?”

“Tony?”

“Present,” Tony manages before he hacks a bit. Breathing is incredibly difficult. “What the hell happened?”

“You died,” someone says heavily. Tony’s not sure—it’s entirely possible he’s not lucid enough to make these determinations—but it sounds like Barnes. “Loki’s been keeping your heart going.”

Tony suddenly realizes that, even though he’s cold, there’s still a weight across his body. The weight shudders and groans. “Keep it down,” Loki growls from somewhere around Tony’s chest.

“What—“

“This is the first sleep I’ve had in the five days since you pulled your little stunt,” Loki snaps. “The first time you’ve been stable enough to let my concentration wane for even a second. Even so, it’s only a constant effusion of my magic that keeps your heart beating. So if you would like that to continue, you will  _ let me rest _ .”

Tony ponders that. His heart. Huh. Well, he knows a way around that. It’s not pretty and he doesn’t particularly  _ want _ the arc reactor back, but it should keep his heart beating for the remainder of his life, and then some. 

Once they get back to earth, and he assembles to team who took it out, he can have it put back in. It won’t even be that hard, really. They closed up the hole in his chest with a surgical steel plate sternum, but it’s not like they could regrow ribs or the sections of his lungs that didn’t survive the initial surgery. His sternum is still a giant hole, a waiting receptacle for the arc.

“You should rest too, Stark,” someone says. Tony is pretty positive that, this time, it’s Barnes. “We’ll talk later.”

Tony isn’t sure if he’s desperately looking forward to that or absolutely dreading it. Either way, he can’t really stay awake much longer.

 

When Tony wakes again, Loki is still lying on the bed, awake but seemingly staring listlessly into space. He seems to sense when Tony’s awake.

“So, you survived,” Loki says tonelessly.

“Thanks to you,” Tony says, grimacing. It’s improving, marginally, but he still feels like death warmed over.

“Mhm, but I cannot continue this forever,” Loki warns.

“Yeah, I know. All your magic, all that,” Tony says.

Loki snorts. “Not all. Not by a long shot. I’m not limited by mortal confinements, Stark. But...enough, and it needs constant tending. It’s not feasible, for me to trail behind you your whole mortal life, never more than a foot or two away.”

“Don’t worry,” Tony says. “As soon as we get back to Earth, I have a plan. Might take me a week to put it together.”

Loki’s lips pull to a thin line, but he nods. “Of course. And then I shall embark on that mission for you.”

“And when you get back? You’ve definitely earned that house. Mansion. Whatever. All the amenities you could want. Pick a location. And then some.”

“A small nation to rule, perhaps,” Loki says, grandiose gesture falling a little flat.

“Nah,” Tony says, shaking his head. “You don’t really want that.”

Loki looks about halfway between biting Tony’s head off for daring to imply that he knows what Loki wants, and outright intrigued. Intrigued seems to win out. “And what do I really want?” He asks, mostly curious but with an obvious undercurrent of danger.

“To be listened to,” Tony says. “Or maybe I’m projecting. That’s all I ever wanted, anyways. And I’m pretty sure I can help with that. Once you’re back, that is.”

Loki’s eyes flash with interest. “This has to do with…whatever you did, doesn’t it?” 

“What exactly did I do?” Tony asks curiously. “I haven’t been awake to see the results.”

“It’s like a fog lifted,” Loki says. “Their eyes, they…they opened. Their minds are clearer. They…Thor actually  _ asked _ me for my opinion, yesterday morning.” That’s clearly a great stride, from the hesitant awe in Loki’s voice. Loki frowns. “I might have…even my mind feels clearer. I no longer feel even the slightest guilt for telling Thor to fuck off.”

He nods. It hurts. “Yeah, I…you all manage to get anything out of Steve?”

“Well, I was a bit busy saving your  _ life _ ,” Loki says haughtily. “But yes, I do believe they managed to work the whole time traveling story out of him. As well as the…more inadvertent side effects.”

Tony snorts. “Like making omegas live in some idealized golden age fantasy? And mind controlling everybody? Yeah. That.”

“Mhm,” Loki agrees. “Reactions are…varied.” 

That’s interesting, and Tony needs to probe that, but he can also feel his energy flagging and needs to finish his sales pitch. “The point is, they can be reasoned with now. It’s not  _ fixed _ , people will still be assholes. But their prejudices are their own, and aren’t cosmically enforced. Some people will be better, some worse, but the norms will be one thousand percent more changeable. It’s no longer like talking to a brick wall. Everyone will be more level-headed.”

“Why?” Loki asks. “Why didn’t you fix it? And don’t tell me it’s just so you’d have a chance to live, although that’s undoubtedly what saved you. I’ve looked into your eyes and seen a reflection, Stark. I know you would never prioritize that.”

“True enough,” Tony agrees. “And, well…Romanoff, in all her pig-headedness, actually said something right.”

Loki raises an eyebrow, clearly a prompt for him to continue. “Do tell,” he invites.

“When she said…it’d make me like Thanos.”

Loki’s face darkens. “If you think sparing omegas pain is the same as murdering half the universe, then you’re not the man I thought you were.”

“Not like that,” Tony says, and he’s tiring exponentially. Loki seems to realize this, and reaches over to lay a hand on Tony’s heart. It feels like a shot of warmth. “It’s not…No. Please. It’s not…Romanoff was an  _ idiot _ , for saying ending prejudice and mass murder were equivalent. But I would be like Thanos, or Steve, because there’d be unintended consequences that I couldn’t foresee, and I’m not owning that. I’ve seen people use the stones to fill their wildest dreams twice now, and I’ve seen it not work out, and I’d be an idiot to not foresee that it’d happen to me too. Sure, I could use magic to change the world, probably for the better, but at what cost? What would go wrong?” He shakes his head. “Better to just  undo the damage Steve did. Now, the world is…changeable. It can be fixed. Sure, it’s slow, and there might be consequences, but we won’t be getting fucked over by the stones.” He manages a crooked smile. “And hey. Looks like I’m gonna be alive to help make that happen. So. Score.”

Loki just stares at him for a long moment, then his lip curls. “I’ve underestimated you, Stark,” he says. “And I think I shall like to live somewhere…warm.”

Tony just nods, accepting that for what it is. An ally.

“Go to sleep,”  Loki says. “We can plan our attack when you’ve rested.”

 

The next time he wakes up, Loki is asleep and Barnes is at his side, perched on the edge of the bed.

“Watching strangers sleep went out of style,” Tony says hazily. Barnes jumps a bit, then looks guilty.

“Sorry, I—I wanted to talk, and then you were asleep, and then—”

“You just waited. Not creepy at all,” Tony finishes. He sighs. “You wanted to talk?”

He hesitates. “I was wondering…if we could start all over again.”  
Tony blinks. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, like, I say ‘hi, I’m Bucky Barnes,’ and shake your hand, and you tell me your name and we act like we’ve never met before.”

“I don’t think…no,”  Tony says, and for the first time in a while, feels like he’s desperately treading water to keep his head above water for a conversation. “No, I, it doesn’t work—what do you remember?”

“Not that other timeline Stevie finally copped to, if that’s what you’re asking,” Barnes says, an undercurrent of anger in his voice Tony doesn’t have the time to explore, as curious as he might be. “I hear—well, he admitted some things to me. Us. The…the fight. But I don’t remember it. I just…it’s like when HYDRA had me, honestly. Picking and choosing what could stay in my brain. And when those triggers were removed, when I got my memories back…it was like the lights were on for the first time in forever. This is like that. I haven’t seen in ages, I’ve been in this fog, and nothing seemed wrong, but  _ fuck _ if something was.” He shudders. “It was brainwashing. Pure and simple, just like HYDRA. Controlling how I could feel and how I could react, and…and it’s probably worse that he did it to control omegas. That he did it to…I’ve forgotten more than I can remember, but I ain’t like that. I swear to god.  I’ve never…when I found you in the lab that day and told you I don’t treat omegas like that? I don’t. Didn’t. I wasn’t…I swear to god, Tony, that wasn’t me.”

Tony blinks, considering. He knows it’s probably unfair to hold any of this against Barnes, knows what Bar—Bucky is really, truly like at his core. Knows the mind stone was involved in this transformation, knows what that’s like.

Knows he made himself a million promises, about not repeating his mistakes, of not letting anyone hurt him twice, about not being the omega who forgives the alpha who hurt them. Of not letting cheap apologies fix abuse.

But he closes his eyes, and remembers…

He remembers gentle hands and Bucky sleeping outside in the cold, remembers carefully-made requests and support. He remembers Bucky following him away from the Avengers, remembers every comment Bucky ever made about omega rights, every action he ever took. Remembers eyes that had no right to be as warm as they were, hot meals, that slow, devastating smile.

_ Tony, I love— _

Tony swallows. If there’s even half a chance…

“Tell you what,” Tony says, tiredly. “When I go back to Earth, I need to have surgery. So I won’t need a Loki-sized pacemaker forever. Then I need to…put my house back in order. Re-shape the landscape. So I don’t have time for this right now. I also need to…I need to grieve,” Tony says honestly. Admitting it is like dragging himself across broken glass, but it has to be said. If Bucky and him ever are going to be, well, anything, Tony needs to be honest. “That you’re not the Bucky I know and…feel things for. That my friends aren’t the people I love. That Vision isn’t my kid. That my kid doesn’t even know me. That everyone I loved hurt me and that we can never ever recover from that, not really, not all the way. I’ve lost a lot, Bucky, because of what Steve did. So I don’t really have time for this right now.”

“I understand,” Bucky says quietly and, clearly thinking that this was a dismissal, moves to stand.

Tony grabs his metal wrist. “Give it a year,” he says. “One year…For me to get my head on straight. To get my world back on track. Show me you mean it, that you’re serious. And then…and then we can talk.”

Bucky’s eyes seem to brighten. “You’re…you’re serious?” he asks.

Tony nods. “One year. 10880, Malibu Point. Noon. I’ll be there.”

Bucky blinks. “Did we…did we go there together?”

“No,” Tony says, honestly. “But I always thought about…well, it doesn’t matter, I guess.”

He always thought about, when Peter was in college, when the aliens were dealt with, maybe returning to the sun and surf of the west coast. Bringing Bucky with him. Building a new home on the land, just for the two of them.

Bucky nods. “One year, then. And, I assume, in the meantime, I’m supposed to leave you alone?”

Tony nods slowly. “I—please.”

“Of course, Tony,” Bucky says softly. “I’m…I’m sorry for your losses, yeah?”

And, when Tony’s trying to process that, trying to process condolences for his loss from the doppleganger for the man he lost, Bucky gets up and walks away.

Loki stirs. Tony’s sure he’s been awake the whole time, a suspicion only confirmed when Loki, very quietly, asks, “think he’ll be worth it?”  
Tony’s silent for a long, long moment. “Guess I can hope so,” he says.

 

Landing back on Earth isn’t too hard, although the American government takes exception the the unidentified spacecraft landing in the middle of New York. Captain America manages to talk them down.

Which reminds Tony. He should add the Accords, in some form or another, to his to-do list. With the mind stone’s spell lifted, people won’t buy into Steve’s thrall for too much longer, and it’ll be better to be out in front of it, this time.

He supposes he can work on it from his hospital bed, because his doctors assure him he’ll be there for quite a while. 

Still, even here, he already sees improvements. They speak to him, and don’t ask for Steve. Tony gets to consent or not to every aspect after a couple firm reminders from him that  _ he _ is the patient, and  _ he _ is the one footing the bill. He’s not talked over, shut out, or ignored, much.

He breathes a sigh of relief. Honestly, if he dies on the operating table, if the arc fails and Loki can’t save him—even this much, it’ll have been worth it. 

 

Tony spends four months all but bed-bound. Once his heart can beat without magical intervention, Loki leaves, telling Tony, half-jokingly, that his home better be ready when he returns.

Tony does begin a mansion for Loki, a refuge and a safe-haven for him.

He drafts the Accords and gets Wakanda involved, starts recruiting countries and drawing key US politicians to his side. They’re far from being ratified, but he makes sure the Avengers have word about them right away, trying to avoid any repeats of last time.

Steve, predictably, raves and rants, and Tony just waits for him to blow himself out, reading the notes his lawyers have drafted about Tony’s planned non-profits while he waits. “Are you done?” Tony asks the screen once there’s a lull in the yelling.

“I…yes,” Steve admits.

“Then, from the bottom of my heart, listen when I say you need a counselor,” Tony says. “That kind of anger isn’t healthy. Yelling at me because I say you don’t get to make all the decisions anymore. You’re not a God, Steve, and I thought these last few months would have proved that to you.”

Steve flushes. Tony doesn’t stop to talk about it. “Read it over with a lawyer,” Tony says crisply. “Call me back with proposed changes, or be ready to sign it.”

Tony hangs up the call and taps the reactor, a self-soothing gesture, and goes back to his paperwork.

 

Tony establishes safe houses and charitable outreaches for omegas, which raises quite the hullabaloo. He establishes the Stark Internship program, with Pepper’s help.

That’s been a thing. Reconnecting with Pepper and Rhodey, both of whom have their eyes opened, their minds released from the stone, but a lifetime of memories getting in the way. Old habits die hard, but they seem to know that they don’t  _ like _ those ingrained attitudes, as much as they still exist. 

It’s slow-going, and Tony mourns his losses every single day. He knows he’ll never get back what he lost. He isn’t sure if he’ll even get anything close.

“And, tell you what, let’s do some stuff with high school kids, too,” Tony shoots back now. “Get some local kids—omega kids, if we can swing it—some work experience.”

Pepper’s eyebrows shoot up. “You hate kids.”

“I didn’t say I’d be working with them,” Tony returns. “But…not all kids.”

She hesitates. “Alright, Mr. Stark. Will that be all?”

Tony gives a ghost of a smile. “That’ll be all, Ms. Potts.”

 

Bucky Barnes is good to his word. It’s nice to see that that behavior carries into this universe.

He’s on every talk show, podcast, news segment, and apparently has serious conversations with strangers in the street about omegas. He’s earnest and big-eyed and puts his money where his mouth is. If he wants Tony to know he’s serious—   
Tony shakes his head. Bucky’s not like that; Bucky wouldn’t do all of this just for Tony’s attention.

Regardless, though, Tony does pay attention. He pays an awful lot, really. It’s sometimes a bit distracting.

“ —I mean, look at Tony Stark,” Bucky says on the TV, and Tony’s attention jerks from about twenty percent on Bucky’s latest interview to completely captivated.

“What about him?” The interviewer asks.

“He’s literally one of the most capable people on the planet. He came up with a plan to take Thanos down himself and succeeded. He killed the Titan. He was the one who figured out Thanos was a threat. He saved us from the mind stone’s influence—” Tony snorts, loving how they always skirt around the issue of how, exactly, the mind stone was influencing them all in the first place— “And he’s…well, Iron Man and Stark Industries speak for themselves. And he’s an omega. I don’t think anyone can make an argument that they aren’t capable, huh?”

Tony knows the interviewer responds, probably has a retort of some sort—attributing Tony’s success to Pepper, or Rhodey, or Steve, or Obadiah or Howard or anyone else—but Tony isn’t really listening.

All alone in his room, he can admit it. There’s a bit of a warm glow, blossoming in his chest.

 

Loki, the Guardians, Bruce, someone named Valkyrie, and Carol touch down a week later.

Tony offers to pay the Guardians as soon as they work out a conversion scale for Earth currency. Alternatively, he offers gold, precious gems, jet fuel, whatever they want. Turns out, a new iPod, a bionic limb prototype Tony has lying around the lab, and the knowledge that Tony killed Thanos counts as payment for these people. Tony does get Loki to bully them into taking some money before they take off again.

Bruce looks around nervously. “I…I’ve been…what’s happened?” He asks.

Tony almost laughs. More than he could ever explain, really.

 

When he’s done trying, he gives Bruce a card. “No pressure,” he says. “But SI is looking for…well, for you, Big Guy. And I know, you like your solitude, but…consider it.”

Bruce smiles, strained and off, but nods. “Thanks, Tony. I will.”

 

Carol’s next. She smiles at him, looking him up and down. “Heard you killed the Mad Titan,” she says.

“I did.”

“So you saved the world.”

“Guess so,” Tony says. “I, uh…sorry if I…interrupted you? Just, got word on where you were, that you were, you know, alive. And I thought…well, this threat might be over. But I’m pretty much out of commission for at least the time being, if not forever. So. Thought the Earth could use one more defender.”

She pretends to consider it, but nods. “I’m in,” she announces. “Now. Where’s Jim?”   
  


“Here it is,”  Tony says, handing Loki the key. “Private island, nice beach, palm trees, the whole nine yard. Luxury mansion. It’s yours. Only the latest and greatest for you.” They key is more for show than anything else—Tony hasn’t used anything so mundane as locks in years—but Loki seems to appreciate something to hold onto.

“It’s mine?” He checks.

Tony nods. “All yours. For as long as you want it. Your name on the deed, your house, your rules.”

He looks at the key, seemingly to study it. He nods. “Alright, Stark,” he says. “And where do you want my particular brand of diplomacy?”  
Tony grins. He has some ideas in mind. Honestly, Earth won’t know what’s hit it.

 

Oddly enough, it’s Carol who helps bridge the gap between him and Rhodey.

Rhodey still stings, like a raw, open wound, perhaps more than anyone else. Tony’s healing, slowly but surely, but Rhodey’s wound has been left to fester.

Rhodey’s been his rock, the only good alpha, the most consistent component of Tony’s life, since the late eighties. Tony wasn’t ready for this, to lose him in such a spectacular way, to the mind stone.

For what it’s worth, like Bucky, Rhodey seems to have come back to himself. But he doesn’t remember a world where Tony wasn’t a problem to be managed, where Tony was truly his equal. 

But Carol, mostly-neutral party that she is, drags them together and forces them to interact. 

It’s still raw. Still hurts. But it’s growth, slow and sometimes stumbling, and it’s one more reason for Tony to wake up in the mornings. He’ll take it.

 

He goes through a heat, seven months back on Earth. It’s lonely and awful and doesn’t bare thinking about.

Tony spends the time locked in his lab, shaking and hoping the new arc reactor can hold up to the strain. He revolutionizes the alpha voice blocking device, hopes to have it marketable within the year.

 

The last thing Tony has to do before his meet up in Malibu the next morning is right through the doors. Tony takes a deep, shaking breath, and pushes inside.

Steve stands there, back to Tony as he looks out of the windows that overlook the expense of the Avengers’ facilities’ grounds.

“Hey,” he says, nodding, presumably to Tony’s reflection on the glass, without turning around. “I’m glad you made it.”

Tony taps the arc reactor. “Are you?”

“Of course. I missed you,” Steve says, turning around with earnest eyes and an earnest smile.

“Uh-huh,” Tony says. “Sign the Accords yet?”

Steve sighs. “Tony—”

“Don’t Tony me,” Tony says. “You  _ have to _ see the way things are going. When you’re not magic, you can’t actually make them fall under your spell, Steve. They’ll turn against you soon. They all will. If we get ahead of it, we get to shape the terms. I thought that was what you wanted.”

“The safest hands—”

“If you still believe that, then you’ve learned nothing,” Tony says derisively.

Steve sighs again. “I didn’t want to fight.”

“Story of our lives,” Tony says. “What else ever happens? We fight, nothing changes.”

“There were other things…”

“Mhm,” Tony says noncommittally. “Sure.” He sighs. “Steve. You need to sign.”

“Tony, I—I need to think about it,” Steve grudgingly says.

“Well, think faster. You’re running out of time,” Tony says.

Steve’s eyes, which had been drifting away, lock onto Tony. “What do you mean?” He demands.

“I mean, tomorrow, I’m getting on a plane to California and, unless the world is ending, I’m not coming back.”

“Tony, no!” Steve says, obviously distressed, taking a step forward before checking himself. “I, we’ve…The Avengers are your family,” he tries.

Tony snorts. “I have no family, Steve,” he says. “I have echoes. Some of them feel a little more real. But my family? These guys were never it. And my real family, well…you ripped them away from me.” Tony shakes his  head. “I’ll never forgive you for that. I might not want to kill you at this moment, but I won’t forgive this. I’ve lost them, forever, do you understand? Peter was  _ my son _ . He died in my arms, and now he’s alive again, and he doesn’t even know me. Just thinks I’m some eccentric weirdo paying for him to study science ‘cause he got a scholarship. Vision, I  _ made _ him, and yet it’ll never be the same between us. Pepper, Rhodey, Happy—it’s all tainted, because, as much as I want to, I can’t forget what happened, how they acted, how things changed. And Bucky?  Well—” Tony’s throat feels like it’s closing up, like he can’t get enough air. He certainly can’t force the words out.

Steve’s eyes, unbelievably, tear up. “If I could…Tony, if I were able to, I’d change it. In a heartbeat.”

“Well, that counts for something, I guess,” Tony says.  _ Not much _ remains unspoken. “Steve. I won’t fool myself. There’ll be something else, someday. And I’ll be here for it. But until then…I’ve done my part. I’ve suffered, given up enough. I’m old, Steve. My body is broken.” Tony squares his shoulders, feels the arc shift as he does. “Once upon a time, I was terrified to back out, to show any sort of weakness. Even when it was more than in my best interest. But I killed Thanos. I owned the infinity stones. I’m past all that now. I’m past your bullshit and their bullshit and I’m just…I’m tired. I have things to handle, Steve, and I don’t want to be here anymore. I can’t be here.”

“So, when you said we’d never…” Steve trails off.

“I meant it,” Tony says firmly.

Steve squares his shoulder, looking like he’s in front of a firing squad and accepting his fate. Tony refuses to be guilted by the look. “Well, then, Tony,” he says, extending a hand. “Good luck. And, just remember, uh… you can always call, or come back, or anything, okay?”  
Tony doesn’t deign to acknowledge that, and hesitates a minute before he reaches out to shake. It feels good, Tony realizes, as his hand gets squeezed by Steve’s. Final. On his terms.

“Maybe see you around, Steve,” he says, giving a half-hearted salute as he turns and makes his way out of the Compound.

 

The new Malibu House is a marvel of engineering, something Tony’s only ever seen in design format.

He laid out most every detail of the place, done the math and engineering himself, picked the colors and the furnishings and even stocked the fridge, but hasn’t been out here even once yet. FRIDAY opens the front door for him, and he enters the wide open space, with a fantastic view of the ocean.

It’s still open, still modern, all soft curves and mostly neutral touches. A new baby grand rests by the window. 

“FRIDAY, how we looking?” He asks.

“House is fully operational,” she says. “The boys are booting up in the lab, Boss. I re-started them twenty minutes ago, if you’d like to see them.”

What Tony really wants is to sleep, but FRIDAY—after some reprogramming and hours and hours of conversations—and DUM-E and U are really the most solid foundations of Tony’s crumbling world. He can’t say no to them.

And when the bots tuck him in on the couch in the lab, well, it might very well be the best night’s sleep Tony’s gotten in a long while.

 

Tony wakes early and spends most of the morning pacing in front of the big windows.

He changes his clothes three times, wishes he thought to dye the now-permanent gray from his hair, or do something about the lines on his face. Wishes he wasn’t so insecure about this.

They haven’t spoken in a year. A whole year of only knowing about Bucky through news reports and what Steve’s told him.

Bucky deploys with the Avengers, when needed. He’s dedicated a lot of his time to omega’s rights activism. He’s worked with Loki a handful of times.

He’s not Tony’s Bucky. But then again, Tony couldn’t honestly say he’s his Bucky’s Tony anymore, either.

He taps his chest, a quick, butterfly-flutter rhythm.

The clock FRIDAY helpfully projects ticks forward, a slow metronome. Tony doesn’t know if he wants it to be noon, or if he wants it to never be noon.

“Boss?”  
“Yeah, FRIDAY?”

“Bucky Barnes has arrived.”

Tony takes a breath as deep as he can, considering the arc reactor, considering his lungs. He squares his shoulders, breathes again.

Then he walks towards the door. Whatever happens, he’s survived everything so far. It’s time to see what comes next.


End file.
